Paul Turner, 3 July 2018

Years ago, I loved the holidays. Now, I hate them.

I love spending time with my family. Holidays allow all of us to have that extra time with them. I’m not sure my family really knows how much I love spending time with them during the holidays, but I really do. I always enjoy hanging out with my wife of 40 plus years. She is an angel on Earth! She takes care of me and allows me to rest and recuperate when I am home and gets me ready to head back out on the road. I don’t get enough time with her. We get to talk on the phone, but that’s not the same.

Holidays are when families get to spend their time together. I don’t. I am only “guaranteed” Christmas at home. When I say that, I want you to know that my company means exactly that. Two years in a row, I was in Buffalo, NY for a regular run we had and when Christmas came up, the company put me on an airplane and flew me home for Christmas. No charge to me. After Christmas, they flew me back to Buffalo to continue the run. That’s awesome for a company to do that!

The other holidays however, well, they are not guaranteed and I am normally working. On the road to or from somewhere and never at home. I see so many people traveling on the holidays and that makes for hard driving for me (with all the traffic and the problems associated with more people on the road). I don’t get the rest that others get because of the hard driving and I don’t get the free time to do things with friends and family.

Tomorrow is Independence Day (July the 4th). People will be home, cooking outside and enjoying some leisure time. They’ll take their family to see fireworks shows around the area and have a great time. I will be on the road.

If you are wondering if I am jealous of these people, I have to say that I am. I don’t like admitting that, but it is the truth. Obviously, you would say, well just get another job that allows you the time off. That is a major life decision and can not be taken as lightly as it is suggested. I am not only jealous of people, but I’m envious of them. That is hard for me to deal with. It brings my life’s happiness level down drastically! When I was growing up, envy was not a trait that I wanted. It felt bad to envy anyone or anything. Envy is a brick wall that keeps me from the good of life. Yet, holidays make me feel envious of everyone who gets to enjoy them.

I hear about the plans of my family and love that they have plans to spend time with each other on the holidays, but it hurts that I can’t be there. So I just hate the holidays!

My feelings aside and I truly mean this… I hope that each of you, who get the time off to spend with friends and family, will have a wonderful holiday! Enjoy the day and make the most of it.