As a child, did you grow up or do you have a child now growing up with a parent out of the house more then in the home due to a jobs demands? I grew up the daughter of a truck driver. I remember my life without my dad, always out on the road, working to provide for his family, but the sacrifice he made kept our family apart more then together. Was the sacrifice he made and the sacrifice so many other parents make really worth it? If you could make a choice to change your current situation what would you do?

As a child, did you have a parent who was away from home because their job demanded it? I was the daughter of a long haul truck driver. Mom stayed home and took care of us as kids, Dad would leave out on the truck usually on a Friday or Saturday night, and come home the following weekend, usually late at night, mom would wake us or let us stay up to wait for him. Wow, I remembered being so excited to see daddy when he would call and tell us he was in the yard and to come pick him up. I could not wait to tell him about everything that had happened that week without him.

Having daddy home was great, but at the same time he was kind of a stranger in the house, He was never there, always missed everything in our lives. My father was only home for a few hours and then he would be gone again. When he was on the road he would call all the time, and I would get so excited to hear his voice. I always wanted my family together like all my friends families. I remember asking my dad every time I would talk to him when he was coming home. He would always say the day, he would tell me he missed me and that he would see me soon. However, what he never understood (I do not believe) is that when I asked him when he was coming home, I already knew what day. I wanted to know when he was coming home to stay, and make our family whole.

My dad’s mild history of asthma developed over time and was aggravated by not being able to hire a lumper to help with unloading his truck. His asthma eventually took him out of the cab and brought my very sick father home. It was nice to have him home, but he was sick and now mom had to go to work, another parent was, what seemed to me as a child, gone all the time. Don’t get me wrong we had some very wonderful times together as a family, and I cherish those times. He passed when I was 16, and now I am 39, and in my prayers, I still say I wish he could come home. I still miss him. My dad will live in my heart forever, as he always had. Don’t only live in your child’s heart!

Many truck drivers have the ability come home and spend more time with their family because they take advantage of the many options for other streams of income. These drivers don’t have to grab every load possible to make the bills each month. Transporting products and materials is the lifeblood of our national economy. Where would we be without professional truck drivers (less comfortable, perhaps)? Technology has changed over the years since the 70's. This presents truck drivers opportunities and options to earn income from home, additional income on the road, and/or have a spouse or family member earn a home based income. The great opportunity here is to lesson the burden of having no other choice but to be on the road all the time. When I was a child we did not have cordless phones, computers, laptops, internet, we didn’t even have microwaves. A home base business was Avon, Amway, or selling encyclopedias door to door. That was not an opportunity to live a life of freedom or even support a family. Today all that has changed. Technology has skyrocketed and home base businesses are growing and can be very profitable.

If we would had technology and home base businesses back then like we have today, mom could of brought my dad home. She could have worked the home base business while he was on the road. He also could have worked the business from the road. These days a home based business can go with you, and it only take a few hour a day to generate substantial income. I often think about the children who are home waiting for the truck driver they love and miss.