The Final Answer......

To finish off the last Q&A.....

Mum-me, also a mother of six children asked how I coped being a trucker's wife and mom to six.

In all seriousness I coped one.day.at.a.time. I have no greatness to share. We got through it as it came. Made the best of it the best we knew how. The same as we do today.

When the trucking started we had four children ages 6 years to 6 weeks old. Thankfully Tessa was a content baby. Zach was 2 yrs old at the time and the biggest hurdle. Dirk (4yrs old) would ask many times a day and you could explain to him and show him on a calendar when daddy was to return and he would comprehend it til the next time. Maria was in Kindergarten at the time and loving every minute of it so she didnt dwell on it like the boys did. Zachary's sidekick aka daddy was gone. He struggled the worst of us all. You just cant explain to a two year old a time line. The loneliness for the kids, myself, and Daryl was hard to deal with.

At the time we were living with a tyrant for a landlord which had us all unsettled every minute of every day. Once we moved and found some of the greatest people the world has to offer and they were our landlords to boot life settled down.

The kids had a farm yard as a play area. Great landlords that loved them to pieces. Homeschooling was going great with Dirk and Maria. Then Clark arrived on the scene. He was a good lil guy. But I had a hard time getting back on my feet after such a hard delivery. That was one of the hardest times for me to cope. Two in homeschool, two in the toddler stage, a baby, and struggling to regain my strength. Like with all things it just takes time. But being on a schedule helped immensely. The kids and I were on it and I had to convince Daryl not to disrupt it as it worked well for us. Which was not too difficult as it only meant no phone calls in the morning during school hours and he had to call to talk to the kids around dinner time. Phone time was the highlight of their week. They would get so wild and funny afterwards it was difficult to get them to settle down and to bed. Of course these were the days before we had a cell phone. So Daryl would have to stop and find a phone that was not busy.

Eventually we would come to the year of nonsense that I will not relive for no amount of money. The only great thing about it was Seth arrived in amidst of it all. He was a good baby but felt all the chaos. All the kids would as Daryl went over the road "long haul" being gone up to three weeks at a time. Seth was 6 mos old at that time. It was not fun but we learned to just live with it. Homeschooling would get to be too much for me with three in school, two toddlers, a baby, a hubs that gone way too much so something had to give.

Later we would add more chaos to it all and open a furniture store. The kids were older and Daryl was only trucking half a week on a destinated run. The chaos turned to turmoil when Daryl ended up going over the road again. Business was too good and we never seen him but for a few hours on a weekend. Or when he would drop by the house for a few minutes. Something had to give and that was the store. It was for the best for our family.

With what we are doing now in the trucking business works the best for all of us. We are able to pick and choose our destinations and schedule for the most part. So Daryl is able to be trucking and participate in the kids lives more.

He has been at the trucking thing pretty much ever since. We all have come to learn that with Daryl there will be trucking and farming. Now with land in Wyoming and along with his truck he should be content for life.