Comments By HomeHalf

Thanks Marc and Parrot. My TruckerHalf and I have been together a long time. We have learned over the years that talking things out is the only way to understand how the other is feeling. I used to keep my feelings bottled up but one day he said "you can't blame me for not respecting your wishes or for hurting your feelings if you are going to keep them to yourself and not let me know what they are" And that is true. People are not mind readers, say what needs to be said and get it over with. We rarely have a disagreement that last more than a couple of hours because of that very thing....it's over with.

Home time was good this weekend. He might not get to come home this next weekend if enough homework is not done but that's okay. School comes first right now and I want him to feel good in what he is doing.

After he left and I got off work on Sunday evening our Oldest Daughter forced me to stop putting off seeing a doctor and go to the ER. Came home after 2 breathing treatments, steroid and antibiotic shots and another armload of meds to continue at home for Pneumonia. Feeling better now for sure and if there were any doubts of my kiddos stepping in to take care of me with there Dad gone, those are out the window now. They have been wonderful.

Hope everyone is doing well. Watch out for Petra I hear she is gonna be a Biotch with the snow and ice. We are even getting the S-word in our forecast but it isn't until like 11 or 12 days away. This is Georgia, The Weather teams on the news show here are just Comic acts at this point. Take care everyone!

Does it seem pretty reliable? I guess for y'all the truck isn't moving when you are using it. For me, I would be using it while he is driving

I always feel like I am speaking out of turn and butting in when I reply but I am a female and a mom so I always have 2 cents to give...

I don't know all of the particulars of your accident Marc, but I feel that in any situation accepting your own blame is first priority. If you know in your heart that your accident was at all preventable, had you just slowed down and concentrated on your actions at that moment, then you know it may not have happened. Companies are made up of real people. Accepting your own blame and showing anyone you apply to in the future that you are owning your own mistakes might just mean saving your career. Is pursuing a worker's comp claim or lawsuit going to come back and bite you in the butt? Is it going to show everyone you apply to in the future that even though you did get hurt on the job, it was something that could have been avoided. Just because you are entitled by law does not mean that it is the right course of action. Every potential employer you apply to in the future is going to ask if you have ever had a workplace accident. If you were a potential employer for someone in your situation, would you rather hear them say "Yes and I sued for Worker's Comp because I was entitled to it" or would you feel better hearing " Yes I had an accident on the job. I made a mistake and though the consequences were extremely hard to deal with, I took it as a lesson learned and I know it will not happen again. I would like the chance to prove that this is the career for me."

Again, I do not know all of the details of your accident so please don't take my words as an attack. Maybe the company has really done you wrong but it is not their future that you need to worry about. It is yours. Don't make hasty decisions and make sure you are doing what is best for you in the long run. I wish you all the best!

Last day of the first week of school. Our first home time is here and I can't wait to get my hands on him!! Every night we have been able to video chat and his excitement and enthusiasm is the highlight of my day. I have to work all day so at least that will pass the time instead of just counting the hours until we go pick him up. The kids are off from school and work today so we are going to clean and disinfect the house before Dad gets home. Everyone has been sick most of the week and the last thing I want is for him to get sick himself and have to deal with that next week. Not to mention how inconsiderate it would be for us to get him sick and send it back to the other folks in the class. Oh well, just another thing to pass the time until we go. Y'all be safe out there. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Here's hoping for an early spring so all these winter storms and unsafe roads will be gone for a while.

End of third day of school. I miss my TruckerHalf like crazy but his excitement and enthusiasm is definitely worth the time apart. He doesn't know how happy it makes me to see him feeling good about a job again. Loving seeing him smile. Only two more days until our first home time. I can't wait!!!!

Pretty sure my husband had to send a copy of his CLP and DOT Medical card at least 10 days before start of school. If yous wants to get in sooner then he might want to get those 2 done ASAP.

That's a great idea, thanks for the tip but he doesn't have the permit yet. He's testing next week! Will keep that in mind, maybe his recruiter can skip him in once he has it. April 1 dems live forever but it'll be here before we know it.

I may be speaking out of turn but My husband started in Cartersville today and said there were several that didn't show up. Don't know if it is too late but it might be worth a call

I may be speaking out of turn but My husband started in Cartersville today and said there were several that didn't show up. Don't know if it is too late but it might be worth a call

We have definitely done our research and went in knowing that there is no guaranteed time he will get to come home. I did weigh in with my opinion that I would much rather a few days at home if possible even if that means stay out longer to let them add up. Whatever is good for him is what we will do and we will be here when he gets home. Whenever that is we will just be thankful for it.

I do have another question though I can work at home, on a beach, in a truck..... wherever as long as I have a laptop and good internet connection. Is there any device or product that would give me that on the road? I know cell phones are iffy a lot of the time. I do get a lot of paid time off with my job (6 weeks plus can borrow up to 40 hours from the next year) but if I could do my job on the truck then I could potentially go with him some without using PTO that could be saved for family vacations. Of course I know this is way down the line for us. I want him to get his experience and feel comfortable having "guest riders" before this happens. I was just wondering if it may be possible.

I really appreciate you all taking the time to give me your opinions and advice. All really good stuff that makes it easier to understand what to expect. we have a really close family. We all support each other in just about everything we do. We do have four kids but they really aren't kids anymore. 3 Girls, 22, 20, and 18 and 1 boy, 16. All pretty much adults. And then my mother. We all do our part and Daddy being gone won't be much more than just missing him. Plenty of help to take over what his normals were. I am not as needy as it has seemed in my other post. I know I sounded like a whiny woman that can't live without him. I know why he is doing this and I know that if he thought I truly wanted him to stay, he would have. He would have done anything I asked. I just needed to get through all of the emotions and come to acceptance on my own. @Susan and Old School....we are really good at doing nothing together. I work from home and make my own schedule so sometimes I can go for 4 or 5 days without leaving the house. I am good with that lol. I have family close by and some really good friends too. I am pretty handy around the house too if you don't mind me bragging just a bit :) (too late if you do mind, sorry) I will keep the griping to a minimum :) He knows my mom very well and "grandma is being grandma" is enough said. I promise all of your advice has not fallen on deaf ears or blind eyes i guess. I will take all of it to heart and let him set the pace of what we do when he gets home time. Just seeing his face and being able to reach out and hug or kiss is all I need. @LDRSHIP.... I hope he does feel that way too. I want him to be as comfortable, at home as possible and have everything that he could possibly need or want in that truck. It will certainly be his home. No jealousy here!!! @Doug...It takes a special person to be in Hospice. We went through that with my dad last summer. Thank you for all you did for the families you interacted with. I know they appreciated it as much as my sisters and I did. @PJ...I am sorry it did not work for you and your wife.

Bottom line I guess is that I love him so darn much it hurts. I am not worried about us here at all. I want him to be happy and know that we appreciate everything he is doing for our family. I want to support him in every single way I can and all of your advice is priceless. Thank you all so much!!

Keep us in your prayers, dropped him off at the hotel last night for the first day of school today. I can't wait to hear all about it when/if he gets to call later!!

Thank you Gentlemen :) If I could only give one piece of advice for new families before you do this: Talk Talk Talk. Open your minds and your ears and let each other say out loud every single concern they have. No anger, no judgement. Just the truth. Then trust that their answer is the truth. If you can't trust that, then your issues are not just with the situation at hand. Sorry ladies but it is true that we tend to make mountains out of mole hills in our heads before we just say what we have to say. You can't do that when the other person is not going to be around when you finally get around to saying it out loud. Get it all out in the open. When I did that, it was like a huge weight lifted and I was able to join in and be excited for us. Okay sorry I need two pieces: Truckers remember that we at home are not going to change all that much. We are going to miss the heck out of you, but for the most part we are going to chug along the way we do when you are here. So when you do get home time, things that you may have been used to when you were here every day, might just drive you crazy. Kids arguing, homehalf yelling at them to stop, in our case mother-in-law being old and crotchety. We will give you space to readjust but we need you to communicate if it is too much. My big fear is that my trucker will start feeling like home isn't home anymore, but an obligation. Help us to help you not to feel that way please :)