Following the dream

Yes, those were the days.....

 

lol..I used to have a bank of phones ringing to my dispatch not just one.

 

One thing I forgot to mention last time was when I was young, all of the grownups told me that I am young and need to do something else. However if I would have became a truck driver way back then, I may have a lot more money today instead of just getting started now.

 

Wow bud, we must be brothers from another mother because your situation is an exact match with mine!

I was (am) in the exact same situation as you right now! One thing I can tell you is that even though this is your dream, the day you go to leave for orientation will not be as easy as you might think. In my opinion it would have been a lot easier to do it before we were married. (In my case, it's not like I didn't try to do that, but I hit a few bumps in the road that didn't allow me to do so.) We didn't live together before we got married so we weren't together every day and didn't see each other except for weekends because of our work schedules. But we were married for about a year when I just couldn't take it anymore and wanted to try going back to my OTR dream. But you don't realize what living together 24/7 does to you until you go to leave! I went through this back in April of this year. It's hard to get excited about your dream while your a few hundred miles away, sittin in a hotel room for 3 days and when you call home your wife is crying to you on the phone! It wears on you...and it basically left me with a black mark on my DAC because I left orientation to come home. She supported me 110% but I just couldn't leave her at home knowing how she was feeling and what it was doing to her.

I can tell you that it was 100% my choice to leave and honestly I regretted it when I did it. I still do to this day. But when I got married, I made a promise to her that her well being and happiness comes before mine so I sacrificed my dream, for the time being at least.

I came home and tried to regroup a little bit. I have a local gig now that keeps me home everyday, but I run through the night Monday thru Thursday. Then I'm off the rest of the day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday until I go to sleep around 3 to go back in Monday night. She works during the day Friday and Monday so I really don't see my wife except for weekends. She's kind of adjusted to me not being there during the night, so she is slowly coming around to the idea of what married life would be like if I were gone.

The job I have now gets me in a truck, but it's not what I'm looking for. I want to be an OTR driver....like you that is my dream! 18 wheels and the open highway! But because of some other occurences, and my leaving orientation to come home, I may have put the final nail in my OTR dream coffin because my DAC looks like @#$%! But I'm not giving up! I know my wife loves and supports me and it seems like after I have been running this gig I have now, it's opening up her mind to the idea of me being gone.

Best advice I can give you my friend is that you have to put your wife and marriage first. She will be your best support system!! If she's having a hard time with you not being home all the time, maybe find a gig like I did and work her into the idea slowly. You've both got to be strong or it will not work! As much as she may support you and want you to succeed, it's also a matter of how much pain can you put her through to get what you want ya know? Me personally I could not do it so I chose to come home and reload. Like I said, I'm not giving up on my dream...just putting it on hold a bit longer! We've been talking about the idea of me buying my own truck actually so she is really opening up her mind to the idea. Things will work out for you my friend, you just have to go about it the right way.

I hope in some small way this little rant has helped you! Good luck bro and if ya need someone to talk with, just shoot me a message!

 

This is indeed a tough decision.
My thoughts are you're a bit young right now for OTR. Like one other poster said, wait a few years...see where your life takes you?

You can always pursue this dream at any time.

I drove right after getting my CDL in 1989 and then left soon after.
Didn't drive again until 2009 when I bought my own rig.
Once it's in your blood, you can't ignore it but timing has to be right..

If you love this girl and life is good, then maybe see what happens after some more time together.
I've been married far too long now to really give a crap, so when I want to go out, I just hit the road...
(My wife prolly has a boyfriend when I am gone for all I know...)

Best of luck to you. Just think...really think about what you want to do. Your young and have your entire life ahead of you.
You don't want to live with regrets, either way...
In my case, each day is just simply one day closer to the coffin.

 

You're in a tough situation. Just think if you had a few kids. You know, IMHO your dream is secondary to your wife's desire for you to be home. A good lady is hard to find and keep - and it sounds like you have a good one.

 

I suppose it's a moot point now, but shouldn't this have been resolved before y'all walked the walk and signed the papers?