14 Worst Mistake

In the summer of 1988 Keith decided to seek domestic counsel from his wise sister Jill. “I felt like she could help me talk it all out and maybe pick up the pieces of my life. Early in the evening I drove my number 45 truck up I-405 toward her place just north of Seattle. Running bobtail is a tough job in any traffic. I should have taken it easy, but my mind was on my problems and I pushed it.

“Traffic was moving along at sixty and sixty-five when suddenly the whole line stopped. I drove into the median to avoid rear-ending the guy in front. My truck flipped end to end and I ended up in a meat wagon. When I healed up, I was fired. I swore to myself I’d never have another accident in a big rig.”

 

On Peggy’s days off from waitressing, she began to accompany Keith on short hauls. “She became undependable on her waitressing job because she loved being in my truck. The restaurant manager told me to find a new girlfriend. He said he’d seen her flirt with truckers and almost ride off with one. I just passed it off as her usual flirting.

“Peggy and I moved into a one-bedroom mobile home in a trailer park and she went to work as a truck-stop waitress in Union Gap, just south of Yakima. Sex was great, but everything else was bad. Rose and the kids were out of sight and I began to fall behind in my child support. I was on my way to being a deadbeat dad, all because of Peggy. We were getting poorer and poorer and I got pissed off and thought about leaving.

“My father was still sticking his nose into my business. If he would have butted out, I might’ve gone back to Rose and my kids. But he kept yammering about Peggy and what a terrible thing I was doing and no decent man would leave his own kids and blah blah blah. I sued for divorce just to spite him, just to shut him up.

“I cried when I filed the papers. The divorce was final on our thirteenth anniversary. Rose was a good mother and housekeeper and a fine woman. Maybe marrying her just out of high school was a mistake, but getting involved with Peggy was a worse mistake. And losing my wife and kids was the worst mistake of all.”