I'm a Trucker

After I made sure that she was asleep though, I went to the flower shop next door to the motel and got six dozen red, yellow, orange, and purple roses. Cost a pretty good amount of money too. Purple roses are quite expensive but I knew it would be worth it in the long run. When I got back to the room I started pulling the petals from the rose stems until if had only the purple roses left. Then I just started spreading the rose petals all over the room. I left the purple roses in a vase and tied a note to them. The note read: To Darlene. I know I am dense. But it has occurred to me that we are in love. So that being said, I LOVE YOU. Just as I was setting down in the front half of the room I rented I heard her wake up. She let out a very loud gasp as she started taking in the scene around her.

She approached the purple roses and I could hear her starting to really cry. I stepped around the corner and she saw me and jumped me so fast I did not have time to respond so we just fell back on the bed and started making love. I knew she could be passionate, but damn! She had some hidden passion I did not know existed. We stayed in bed for the six hours and no, we did not sleep. We finally did pass out but it was from exhaustion. We knew we had to get ready to head out the morning we woke up but she was still full of energy. So we did "IT" again. Jackie Gleason put it right when he is quoted for saying, "How Sweet It Is"!

I needed to make some plans so I could make sure we were going to be in Oklahoma City in three weeks. Her birthday was coming up and I wanted to make sure she was home with her parents during that time. I had other surprises. I had called her parents during the two hours I was out of the room and explained some things to them about our current relationship. I wanted to make sure her family was at her house for her birthday surprise party.

The day we arrived we dropped the trailer and headed over to her parent's house in "Ground Ship II". Even though we were heading into a locked gate community the truck definitely stood out. How many rigs were seen in this type of environment, I had no idea. I just knew we would be there in the rig. Her whole family was there when we arrived about ten o'clock in the morning. Since it was now close to a year since we were able to spend any quality time with her family I really did not know how everything would go. I just hoped it would go as planned.

The festivities of the surprise birthday party went well. Everyone was happy and good spirits. Her dad knew what was up as he and I had already discussed what I wanted to do. So about two o'clock in the afternoon her dad got everyone's attention to wish his daughter a happy birthday. Everyone toasted. When everyone had settled down I strolled over to Darlene, got on one knee and proposed to her. "Darlene, we have been friends for almost two years now. We have covered a lot of territory in the past year and have also become lovers." She blushed. "Since we are already fifty-fifty partners on "Ground Ship II" would you be my partner in my life and marry me?" As she literally knocked me down she was smothering me with kisses and finally looked at me with tear stained eyes and said "Yes". Of course her mom and dad had already given me their blessings on this but she had to go and ask them if it was OK with them. Her dad has a real good sense of humor. He was complaining about her being a trucker's wife and how was he going to be able to support them, and teased her about the whole thing. Of course I already knew what the outcome of it would be and just smirked. When all was said and done, he escorted her over to me and told me to take care of his little girl. He already knew I would.

We left but promised we would return when her mom had everything ready for the wedding. We stayed in touch with them on a daily basis. If we were out of cell phone coverage areas we would stop at truck stops, fuel up, eat and of course call her parents. I knew my parents would want to be there so we made sure they would be able to come when the time came. Even if we had to pay for their trip, they would be there. With dad being a farmer, there was not a lot of extra money for things they did not need. A few occasional trips to town for supplies or a night on the town was all I ever known them to do. We, Darlene and I, have been out to see them so they at least knew who she was and they did like her.

I discussed with Darlene's dad about a prenuptial agreement. It was my idea. I wanted them to know I was not after anything they had, especially their money. I could not believe that I wanted it but it was something he wanted to discuss with me when we had a good chance. That type of thing settled his mind. Darlene's mom could not believe I am the one that wanted it either. With that said, the next time we saw her parents, I signed on the dotted line. I knew in my heart that everything I was doing was right. I also knew in my heart that Darlene loved me too.

We were married in a very large church Darlene grew up in and by the pastor Darlene grew up with. Her parents and about two hundred of her family were there. I was really surprised when over a hundred of my family was also there. Darlene's mom and my mom conspired to get all that could to attend. It should be noted that it was Darlene's dad that paid all of the expenses for my dirt poor family to attend. He even set them up a motel about six miles from his home. He rented the entire motel just for this occasion. The ballroom of the hotel is where we had the reception too. I knew he had money, but I just would not have thought in a million years he would be so easily parted with it. He and his wife worked hard for it. Later I found out the whole ordeal cost over $150,000.00. He told me that he hoped Darlene would get married only one time and he wanted to do it right. I told him that I too hoped Darlene would get married only one time and that I wanted to do right by her.

Times fly when you are having fun. Darlene and I have now been married for forty-nine years. We have fifteen trucks in our fleet. Not a one of them is over five years old. We have seven children and two grandchildren. All of our trucks are call "Ground Ship" with the extra annotation of which number they are in our fleet. We never repeated the numbers just because we traded them in. Our drivers are like family to us. The latest "Ground Ship" is noted to be number "XXXIV". That's number 34 if you cannot read roman numerals. Both Darlene and I are semi retired now and leave the business end of the trucking to our eldest daughter. She had Darlene's beauty, my sense of responsibility and of course her own mini-rig she had made to reflect her personality and love of the road. Even though her truck is built on a Chevy frame, it looks like a mini "Ground Ship II".

When someone from humble beginnings from a farm can realize his dream, with someone else that has the same dream, life is real good. The only thing Darlene and I are wondering about now is what to do. We've seen forty-nine states and a lot of Canada and some of Mexico. Hawaii is the only state we have not toured. I think maybe we might just take about six months and see if we can drive around the Islands of Hawaii.