Home For The Holidays

It is December 30th and I arrived home on the 23rd of the month - I have been home for an entire week!  This is unheard of, but I am really enjoying it!  I was planning on starting back to work yesterday, but I got an unexpected call from my dispatcher saying that it was a little slow this week and if I wanted I could stay home for a few more days!  Well, I jumped at that chance - it is very seldom an over the road truck driver gets this much time at home, but when opportunity knocks I'm throwing the door wide open.

I really do enjoy my job, and of course I'm only getting paid when the wheels are turning, but I have thoroughly enjoyed being home with my wife and children this week.  Since I am now working on a dedicated account (SAPA Aluminum) I am somewhat at the mercy of the demands of their workload. At this time of the year they are just getting back to work from their holiday break and the factory at Delhi, Louisiana is just now getting fired back up to start filling orders so there is a slight delay after the holidays before things are hot and heavy.  It is one of the many benefits of this new job that I hadn't realized would be available until now.  Next year I can plan more appropriately for it if I find the situation to be the same.  Part of it this year was the day of the week that Christmas fell on.

I've had such a nice time at home, it was so nice stepping into my house and seeing the way my wife and daughters had it all decorated up so festively.  The sights, sounds, and delicious smells of Christmas were abundant in our snug little home, but the best thing for me was just being able to relax and enjoy the comfort of being near the people I hold dear - that includes my close friends of 30 plus years at our church.  We enjoyed an intimate little dinner at the Alston's house in Nacogdoches just a few days after we had a brief Christmas Eve visit with our relatives down in Seabrook, Texas.

As you can see the house was completely decorated right down to the deer heads on the wall!  We have had a very nice time together and I really hate to see it come to a halt, but halt it must.  I will be gone for another month when I start rolling again, with a plan on being home for my birthday at the end of January/beginning of February.  I will begin this new year with a resolve to watch my caloric intake a little closer and see what I can do about losing a little weight.  I'm not excessively over weight, but as a truck driver it can creep up on you quite unawares.  I've seen too many of my peers out there on the road who can barely waddle in and out of the truck stops.  I refuse to let myself get like that.

I'll start posting again as soon as I leave home.