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the night in Florida when I just knew we were both going to die or end up crippled. An eighteenwheeler had started around us on a hill when two more eighteen-wheelers topped the hill. My husband told me to hold on as he took to the ditch. The truck coming around us could not slow down enough to fall back before the trucks going south would have hit him. No, I wasn’t scared that night, I was literally terrifed. As we rode that ditch, with Tommy trying to keep our vehicle from losing control, I could hear one of the drivers on his CB exclaiming, “Now that is some driving.” They were all thanking Tommy for getting over in the ditch. If he hadn’t reacted so fast, we would have all been killed. I will never forget the time we were crossing over an over pass in Alabama. We were on our way home. As we were traveling on the over pass we met an eighteen-wheeler traveling west bound. There was another truck behind our vehicle, pulling a new mobile home. The road was extremely narrow. I asked Tommy, “ What would happen if the two vehicles touched each other?” He replied, “They would crash,” and about that time, he said, “Oh my God, they hit.” As Tommy has always loved pulling tricks on me, I didn’t believe him and I told him so. He said, “No, they really did hit and one of them has exploded.” By that time he was stopping and I turned around to look. It was true, there was a big fireball off of one side of the over pass, and Tommy was saying the other truck went off the other side. Tommy ran back to try to help and about an hour later he came back and said, “Miraculously they are all alive.” Ove the years Tommy has told me some fascinating and very captivating stories. The way he can tell them had me either rolling with laughter or almost crying. I was always telling him I was going to write about those road trips, but he insisted no one would want to hear them. By the 1980’s, Tommy and I were managing a trucking company. We worked together, him as the manager and me as his “righthand” helper. Soon after we took over, one of the drivers started calling me, “Bossett. Maybe that was the best description of my position. Even though we worked long hours to get the company back on its feet, we were happy because for the first time in our marriage, we were together. All
of the years before Tommy traveled and now he was with me, sometimes 24 out of 24 hours a day! People would ask how I stood living and working with my husband. I have to admit, “It took a little getting used to, but then we settled into a routine and I liked it.” We worked hard and before too many years we increased our employees from seven to around thirty. By then our children were leaving home and before long we were faced with the worst nightmare a mother and father could face. Our youngest, our son, was very ill and most likely would not survive the illness. For three years we endured what I would describe as hell on earth. The ups and downs, the feelings of despair, and the hopelessness each day would bring cannot be totally described. Only those who have endured this misery could understand the hurt and sorrow of losing a child. The one joy or happiness, if it can be described as happiness, was knowing our son was saved and wasn’t afraid to face the unknown. A lot of marriages fail when a child has died, and I still don’t know why ours didn’t. Maybe it was because I was so stubborn, or maybe it was Tommy’s laughter. But then, maybe it was God’s will. Whatever helped us through that awful time, I am so thankful and grateful. A few years ago Tommy was introduced to what became a huge challenge for me. He lost his heart and mind over a piece of property in Claiborne Parish. Anyone who read that story should recall what a horror the house was. It was unbelievable, but I endured that trial and for the most part am happy with our latest home and with my life as it is today. I am not the delusional type. I live in reality, and realistically I know that someday this house with the huge yard will become too much for us, but today I have been given the responsibility of caretaker and I will enjoy it as long as possible. We all must find meaning in one another and in our faith. My love, my faith and my happiness are my family and my friends. Without my family and friends, life would have no meaning.
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