Line Love
We haven’t always been a Journeyman lineman’s family. It started in 2016 after Justin decided to go after his next dream job. He has been a blue collar worker since the age of 18 and after 8 years as journeyman tree trimmer clearing trees from power lines he realized he wanted to be the one to restore the power lines.
This next journey of loving Justin was pure excitement. We sold our home to purchase a brand new fifth wheel toy hauler trailer. We traveled the pnw with our three kids and one on the way. i home schooled two of the kids and brought home our last kid to a trailer as home.
He went through his second apprenticship while we traveled with him to all of his job placements. Being away from home and living in such small space created a new mindset. we didn’t need all of the belongings we owned; we only needed each other and our love.
Loving a journeyman lineman with a dream for chasing the powerline comes with its ups and downs. I had to learn to live alone with the kids. to take care of all aspects of running a household along with putting my desires on the back burner. Justin had the dream to travel the country to gain quality experience to become a well rounded lineman.
at the end of his apprenticeship we decided to move back home and live in the trailer on his parents property. he worked away from the home and i stayed behind to handle the family. justin has always been a good provider. he’s given our family the life i dreamed of while he was able to live the life he wanted.
we eventually found our next roots (home not on wheels) in a small town outside of Spokane. from this point on he traveled for the next 4 years; chasing his line to life. i became the domestikated gypsy(linktr.ee/jamup) where I created my new journey in life as a mom to 4 humans.
for the first couple of years i was challenged with raising a teenager in her last two years of high school, a middle schooler, kindergartener and a toddler. i was in all stages of motherhood. the teenager was the most challenging. justin would be across the country living his best life doing what he wanted to do while i was supposed to be all domestikated and shit. he would come home about once a month for the next 4 years.
loving him from a distance brought a new sense of identity. who was melissa while the husband was away providing? that is what i slowly gained after two years of him being on the road.
i definetly had my i don’t know if this can work and will it end up being all put back together again moments but i realized i could only focus on myself. that brought me to my next chapter of loving myself.
i grew fond of running the household how i wanted to, i enjoyed sleeping in the bed all to myself, i enjoyed managing the minutes of our day how i wanted to, i enjoyed cooking the meals i liked to eat because i liked to eat them. i enjoyed the peace of not feeling the need to please my man. i was able to keep my own company and manage life without my husband.
with all of that said i grew extremely comfortable in my own skin. i no longer needed a man to feel complete or secure. i knew who i was and knew my worth while justin was away doing his way of life.
our relationship had some bumps in the road and it no longer suited me to serve a relationship that seemed to care about the needs of one person. needless to say when it was time for justin to come home it took a year to adjust.
he came home expecting everything to be the same way he left it but it was no longer that way. i was an independent grown women who valued my worth. i no longer would put up with the mischief and shenanigans. so love formed a new line between us.
we had to learn to create a new kind of love which involved conversations around feelings and thoughts as well as the pursue of acceptance. love is the most complex beautiful feeling a human can experience. it takes two people who are willing to put in the effort it takes to make love last.
Line love is a uniquely complex type of love that only a select few get to experience and i wouldn’t change it for the world.