My birth father died before I turned 5, Mom remarried to a workaholic that ended up being the only dad I remember. My stepdad was successful, he and my mother ran a small gravel truck business. The business required moving away from the small town I will always think of as home.
.
New town, smaller, two-faced people. Went back to home town for community college, it had changed. I was no longer one of the guys.
.
Started driving truck for my stepdad, off and on when I was 18. This was in Iowa, a bad year had us going to Arizona for winter work. It ended up saving the company, and I spent a lot of time out there. My parents bought a 2nd house in Arizona, I would eventually marry the girl next door.
.
We ended up going to Iowa, and my stepdad, who had always told me what to do, started telling my wife what to do too.
The stress was too much for her, she ended up on anxiety meds.
We spent a couple years working in Des Moines, but were always a paycheck away from being evicted. I ended up buying a truck from my dad and we started doing the snowbird thing, Iowa road work for 8 months, Arizona for 4 months.
My wife's health got worse, then better. Then after 4 years my dad died, he was the business. My Mom tried to keep it going, but I wasn't him, and a secretary that wanted the business was running it into the ground behind our backs.
Mom sold the trucks, and my wife and I moved to Arizona. At first in an RV, then a house.
.
I was hauling for some pretty shady truck brokers, and somewhere along the way I had a bit of a breakdown. We ended up losing everything, pickup, house, all our stuff.
.
Moved in with my wife's parents, her younger sister and 2 nieces. It was bad. My mother-in-law took my wife on a plane trip to West Virginia for a 10 day trip. My wife stayed, "If you want to see your 4 year old son, we're in WV."
My personal vehicle blew up, went to collect my vacation money to pay for an engine, the IRS had garnished my wages.
A friend sold me a crappy Pontiac Gran Prix for $750 and I joined my wife and son in West Virginia.
.
No decent jobs in West Virginia, ended up driving truck over the road. Gone for 4 to 5 weeks at a time, 5 days home. Missed out on a bunch of my son's life. 3 years ago I got hurt on the job, was off for 16 months healing up. Living on workman's compensation sucks, but we got by.
.
14 months ago I found a better version of driving over the road, regional job. I get around 10 days off per month, wife's happy, son's happy, and I am happy.
.
I still occasionally buy a lottery ticket though.