Kelli Mullin

by Kelli Mullin
(Colorado)

I have known my hunny for many years, we were the very best of friends then lost touch for 9 years. I had a failed attempt at locating him in 2008 and went looking for him again in Oct 2014 and thankfully found him this time, he had been a trucker at that point for 6 years already. And Thanks be to the Lord he felt the same way! We got married in Mar 2015 and given that we are both in our mid forties I think we have a leg up on the realities of life, although I am finding that despite being a fiercely independent woman I am not emotionally dealing with his absence as stoically as I would like.

I grew up around truckers back in the day of no way to stay in touch with home and paper logs and no sleep and speed (drugs) to make the load so I had some idea of the issues they deal with but boy has that scene changed since the 70's!

After his first time in town where we had to work like crazy all weekend to get his laundry done and the truck cleaned and drove around like crazy people to restock his snacks and such, leaving no real connection time, I now have a back-stock of his clothes and extra sheets and make sure I have all of the laundry and shopping done so now when he is in town we just spend it together and connecting. We talk every day, some days for many hours - thank God for Blue Parrott! And I have gotten pretty good at predicting when he will be arriving based on the load and where he is and his clock.

Whenever I feel especially sad about him being gone I do share that with him because I feel that honesty is important, but I always frame it so that he knows I see that it is my issue and I have to figure out how to deal with it. He is who he is and I love him with everything that I am, and that includes letting him be him, which also means understanding and allowing for his need to roam the earth. I never believed in soulmates but that is who he is - my soulmate - and I know how lucky I am that I found him again after all of those years. So every minute I have with him is a gift to me straight from God, and I came so close to never having him at all so I have a unique perspective there.

My children are grown and have babies of their own, so nothing holding me to home there but I do have my own business and 2 dogs that are really too big to be on the truck - he has a smaller one already riding with him so also no real room there. Also I have the bladder of a gnat...

I also know that he loves me just as much as I love him so trust is complete and unquestioning. Not only that but I truly know him and he is unfailingly honest, decent, and truly a good human being. I have no worries that he will ever stray and would bet the house on it, in fact.

We may not have been married for long but we will be married forever, of that I have no doubt. And it does suck when he is not here and I miss him terribly but I am seeing that absence really does make the heart grow fonder and it makes me very aware of how precious whatever time we do have truly is. How many couples who see each other every day totally take each other for granted, or worse? Constantly harp on each other over stuff that ultimately amounts to nothing? I wouldn't trade my life right now for anything, because I am married to the love of my life who loves me and also loves his work.