Rikkiemarie

The alarm goes off at 4am Monday through Saturday. I wake up as soon as it goes off to not disturb my wife and my daughter in the room across the hall. I throw my clothes on, grab my coffee, lace up my boots, and I’m gone. I stop by the Speedway down the road to grab my second coffee, two 24 oz red bulls and a bag of Better Made Sweet Heat BBQ chips for my lunch.

GPS says one hour and sixteen minutes to the job. Traffic usually moves quick since there’s not many people on the road this early. After an hour staring at the taillights in front of me, I’m the first to the job. 480 tons to put down today.

I do my normal routine by starting all the equipment. I met Rich here last night to help unload everything, so it’s already on the ground. Thirty minutes later, guys start to show up, sun starts to come out, trucks show up, and first pass is down by 7:10am. 

It’s like I’m back in traffic, pass after pass staring at the back of the truck thats pulled out of the paver for the third time. It’s 11am. 200 tons are down. So is my first red bull and half a bag of chips. 280 more tons to go. 

Pass after pass.

Days like this aren’t bad. Nothing is cut up, the boss didn’t show up to say how he would do it differently and only one guy showed up hungover today. Can’t complain on days like this.

Three more days until Sunday. I always think about sundays. My wife and I wake up around 7am, watch the news until our daughter wakes up. Her and I snuggle in my chair while the smell of bacon makes its way to the living room. We don’t leave the chair until 11am. We go outside, she runs to her swing set and I start raking leaves. She spots her barbie jeep so we move on to finding the batteries. Drive around the yard to the garage, pick a project I haven’t been able to get to.

Pass after pass.

It’s 1:30pm and only 100 tons to go. A text comes in that there’s a second job about thirty minutes away. A driveway. Day was going too smooth, now it feels like a regular day. 

Last pass.

Finally I get off the paver. Clean it. Then Rich shows up to haul to the next job. Traffic isn’t moving like this morning. Thirty minutes away turns into forty. Driveways not prepped, so I’m in the skid. Everyone kicks around rocks while I prep. Back on the paver. After an hour I’m back in my truck. Twenty minutes to the yard to drop off paperwork then an hour and 20 minutes home.

My lights hit the house at 7:18pm. I see my wife and daughter through the window. I sit and watch as she comes bursting out the door to me. She drags me out of the truck to give me the biggest bear hug. I always change my shirt on my way home to get ready for this hug. I haven’t been able to put her to bed the past few nights so we lay in her room, talk, laugh, and she finally gets to sleep around 8:30pm. I kiss my wife as she pulls my dinner out of the microwave. She sits with me while I eat, and sets my alarm after I fall asleep in my chair. She puts my boots by the door, grabs my clothes for the next day and sets them at the end of our bed every night. Around 12am I wake up still in my chair and I move to the bedroom.

After I shut my eyes, I hear it. It’s 4am.

Two more days.