First time doing this so here it goes....

by Talia
(North Carolina)

I've never been one to have a blog or keep a journal about what I experience or how I'm feeling but with recent events I have been more interested at the idea....I figured it was time I tell our story so here it goes...........

Okay well I was born and raised in New Hampshire...(yes, I'm a damn Yankee lol) it was after my freshman year of high school that I moved with my family to North Carolina.

At the beginning of my sophomore year is when I met Michael. Of course every girl goes into a relationship at that age head over heels in love.

We met in our homeroom and I truly didn't think that our relationship was going to amount to anything....he had a reputation as a bad boy and I just figured we'd go through a stage.

Well to our surprise we found out that I was pregnant...yeah pregnant in high school...Ironically just like my mother...I was 16 at the time I remember the horror of being forced to take a pregnancy test *shudders*.

We finished off our school year and had our beautiful baby girl Serenity in August of 2008. From then on the three of us have been connected at the hip.

I dropped out of normal high school and got my diploma online through a local community college and Michael tried the same thing but when it came to money being tight he didn't have time for school and threw himself into work full time to support us even though I was living with my parents he didn't allow them to pay for much.

So his diploma went out the window. In 2011 I got offered a full time position working for an orthopedic doctor. In order for me to do that Michael could only work part time so we didn't have to pay for daycare, money kept flying out of our pockets with me still living with my parents and paying them rent and for groceries and car insurance and our personal needs....I don't think we went over $50 in our bank account after paying off everything.

Even through all this financial trouble this amazing man gets enough together to pop the question!! As of July 15th,2012 we've been engaged.

So i can guess you're wondering where the trucking comes in....it came up and surprised me too. I get home from work one night and Michael is looking through jobs on the computer because he wanted to start making better money...randomly out of the blue he tells me "I think I want to go to school for my CDL" mind you we are both 21 years old and our daughter is 4.

I was blown out of the water, I didn't expect him to make that kind of decision. Of course we talked about it and came to a decision together that for us it would have to be our way out. Well Michael did the research and came across CRST...now before you say anything if you have a high opinion of them let me finish!!!

Michael talked to the recruiter within a few days and had determined that it was quick to start and they did their own training through a local community college, now this recruiter did say "THEY PREFER TO HAVE YOU GO TO THEM WITH NOW EXPERIENCE DRIVING A STANDARD". So the plans were made he was scheduled to leave the second week of November 2012.

Our daughter and I were going to live with family in New Hampshire for a little while until he got on the road.So we say our goodbyes and both take our journeys he on the typical greyhound bus and our daughter and I on a plane. The first week for him was all paper work and text books.

Mostly just waiting for everyone to get there. Well Day One actually in the truck was miserable for him, obviously he didn't know how to drive and had his trainer screaming at him for missing gears...uh hello he is JUST learning....anyways..day 2 pretty much the same but he actually progressed a little and was out on the road driving, his trainer told him that he would make them(the school) know that he was progressing, Day 3 i get a phone call when I know that he is almost done driving for the day him telling me they decided to kick him from the program! UM WHAT?

Apparently they expect their drivers to learn how to drive a tractor trailer in 4 days. Thats exactly what he was told! So I had him come to me in New Hampshire via another Greyhound bus so he could see us since it was almost Christmas, while we were there Michael called CRST and told them he had signed a contract to be taught and certified when he left so they better not send a bill.

He talked to the recruiter about this and couldn't even get the senior manager on the phone to air his complaint...they still threatened to bill him. Well Michael took the step of calling the local news station in Iowa to report them for the way they did their driving program. 12 hours behind the wheel is not enough to learn how to drive a vehicle that with a small mistake could kill alot of people!

Well shortly after sending him home to Charlotte to start at Trans Tech(way better school I may add!) he got a text message from a friend saying they stopped trucks because they were being investigated....now personally I don't know if this is real I didn't do the research and neither did Michael because it didn't really matter anymore but if it did....more power to the D.O.T. Well Michael started Trans Tech at the end of January. It was WONDERFUL!!!

He always called me happy and said that these trainers actually cared about your success and on top of that you were behind the wheel alot longer,its a safer program, Thank the Lord. I got the best phone call of all 4 weeks later he had taken all of the tests necessary to get your CDL and had PASSED!!**phew** So at this point my man now carries a CDL with a hazmat and tanker endorsement!!

Well right out of school it was decided that he was going to go to Schneider for work.Serenity and I moved back to North Carolina. We set a date to get married May 19th and I bought my dress and then He left March 24th to go for orientation and training, and on his way to Green Bay there was a rock slide in West Virginia and it snowed AGAIN!! With all that crazyness he was forced to bus back home and wait for the next orientation because everything had put him so far behind.

So AGAIN he left April 1st via the lovely Greyhound bus this time to Pennsylvania, woohoo shorter ride!!. He arrived a day early to ensure that he would make it with plenty of time,just in case. Day 1 was the physical and logbook work, Day 2 was behind the wheel and he loved it, and today 04/05/2013 was Day 3 and it was just even better!! Praying that all this continues to go so well. Without having any friends it's been hard to just be able to open up to someone and be like, I miss my man and I need someone to spend time with to help me cope, but yeah there is no one there.

I know it's only going to get harder. So this was my way of getting our story out. And boy do I feel so much better. Thanks to all that have read. :)Prayers for the future!