I have a confession to make.........

I talked to Dave yesterday!

The lady at England Trucking called me yesterday morning while I was working, so I called her back on my lunch break. She asked me the same questions she asked Dad and Cat. And then I told her that the number I had for Dave was disconnected and our sister Emily, was having a baby any time now, and I asked her if she could give me the number that Dave gave her so I could tell him. And she said yes!

I wrote down the number and stared at it for a couple of minutes, kind of nervous, going back and forth in my mind on whether I should dial it or not. Then I thought, "F it, he's my brother." So I dialed it, and he answered! He seemed pretty happy to hear from me. One of the very first things out of his mouth was "sorry it's been so long." I told him not to worry about it, it was just good to hear his voice.

We talked for about 10 minutes, here is the run down. Dave actually quit his job last summer. Working the long 10 and 12 hour shifts on his feet over the years, gave him serious knee problems. He had both knees operated on at the same time, and quit his job. I asked if he had been getting disability or something and he said no, he had saved up money over the years and was living off his savings. He said the recovery was long and painful, but he is doing much better. I asked him if he was in a wheelchair during the recovery, he laughed and said no, he was on crutches. You have no idea how good it was to hear the Dave laugh.

He is feeling good enough to start working again, but he has to get out of the printing business. He needs a job where he is not on his feet all the time, so he decided trucking might be good. So, he is going for a driver job. And, he is coming to Salt Lake this weekend. He is going to a trucker school up here for a few weeks. I immediately offered my guest room, but he has already paid for a dorm room they provide. He said he could maybe stay with me on the weekends. He has a few weeks of classroom stuff, then he goes on the road for about a month with another driver. I asked him to please call me when he is in Salt Lake. Dave doesn't have a cell phone, only a land line, so the ball is in his court to call me. I am so hoping he calls me while he is here, and at least comes over for dinner or something.

We only talked about 10 minutes, because my lunch break was up. He told me it was good to talk to me and he told me he loved me. So, Dave is doing okay, he's just a dumbass that doesn't know how to deal with things, especially after letting this long go without contact. He is quite embarrassed about that and knows it has caused concern in the family.

So, here is the deal. I don't think it is a good idea for Dave to be bombarded by phone calls and visits from everyone, so I'm going to keep his phone number to myself for now. If he calls me while he is here, and comes for weekends and stuff, and gets comfortable, then I'll start sharing. He's going to be in Utah anyway, so you can't reach him on his phone after Saturday. I will keep everyone updated on any future visits, of course. Please don't be upset with me, but I really think this is the right thing to do.

I'm really sorry I didn't tell you guys yesterday, but I thought the best thing to do was to keep it quiet and wait and see what Dave does while he is in Salt Lake. Then today, the guilt started kicking in, and I thought everyone at least needs to know that Dave is doing okay. He wasn't fired or laid off, and he isn't homeless, he's actually looking forward to this new career move.

Let's just all keep positive thoughts that Dave calls me while he is here. I joked with him that if he doesn't, I'll just find him anyway. I've found him twice now, and I'll do it again. He thought that was funny and told me he would call me.