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We assume that it is in good times, when opportunity is aplenty, that people change their life. I found the opposite to be true. It’s hard times that force you to overcome all those doubts that usually stop you. Rick olson was a 38
year old entertainment lawyer in pittsburgh who never had time to give
his young son Patrick his undivided attention. “One of my
favorite Patrick stories is it was a Friday night and I was supposed to
be watching him and ended up getting drawn into a meeting that went
until 11 o’clock at night, so I ran home, picked Patrick up brought
him back to the office.” “And I used to
tell people that I worked with, if this is what practicing law is all
about, I’d rather drive a truck.” “I needed to
reprioritize some things but I was working and had bills to pay and
career I’d invested a number of years in, 13 years actually, and it
was difficult to figure out how to just walk away from it.” “The catalyst came
in an abrupt manner. I was playing hockey one night and took a left hand
turn where I should have taken a right hand turn and hit the boards and
sheared my heel off and shattered my ankle and broke both leg bones.
Next thing I know I was in the hospital with the doctor telling me I had
eight months to figure out what i wanted to do with my life because it
was going to be that long before I could get up on feet and get out of
the house.” “And I think
within 3 or 4 hours of when I got hurt, some little voice inside of me
said ‘this is your opportunity, don’t blow it.’” During those 8 months,
Patrick would come over from his mom’s, and they spent the time
leveling their sloped side yard. Seven dumptrucks of dirt were dumped at
the top of the yard, and over time, one wheelbarrow at a time, they
brought it level. Rick was crippled and Patrick was too young, but they
did it together. And when Rick was ready to work again, he knew that his
time with Patrick had to be this kind of time – time with no
distractions. “Needless to say a lot of my friends were a) amused, or b) mortified when I told them I was giving up law to go drive around the country.”
“I started out
pulling a tanker for a company called Schneider. We haul exclusively
liquid chemicals to paper plants, power plants, water treatment
facilities around the country.” From the hardship came
insight – 13 years of feeling trapped made him treasure mobility and
freedom. “People still ask
me, do you really enjoy it. Absolutely. Its fun, I’ve seen places
I’d only dreamed of seeing, its challenging, its fulfilling, in the
sense that for me at least i get to the end of the day and I feel I’ve
accomplished something.” Rick would never
suggest being a trucker is his purpose in life. It’s that being a
trucker allowed him to fulfill his real purpose – as a father to Patrick. “The real benefit
comes at the end of your 5 days or 11 days or however long it is, you
park the truck take the key out of the ignition, and you’re done, you
don’t think about it until its time to go back.” “Even when I only
had the 3 days every 2 weeks, he knew that when I got out of the truck
and picked him up, he’d have me completely, for the 3 days. He knew
that pretty much his priorities would be my priorities, that was a
unique thing for him.” “It’s a life
like I didn’t really realize you could have, while you were
working.” “It’s possible
to make a living, enjoy yourself, feel good about what you do, and have
a life away from work, all at the same time. 5 years ago, I don’t
think I would have believed that that was possible.”
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