This story originally ran Dec. 24, 2012. For the follow-up published in 2014, follow this link.
A couple weeks ago, dispatcher Tina Pastore sent along a poem she sends out to all employees/coworkers in her company this time of year. She’s with Chipman Relocations, a United Van Lines/Mayflower agent serving 25 drivers from its Fairfield, Calif., facility, likewise “other owner-operators from our other 6 offices,” says Pastore, “but those mainly drive local or just in CA — probably about another 25.”
As is the case for so many others, Pastore says she loves this time of year, “but I also dread it. It is sometimes difficult to get all the guys home for Christmas. And plane tickets are outrageous right now. I know at least four guys won’t make it home — at least they don’t have little kids. If any are around here, and it isn’t home for them, I’ll invite them over.”
Whether you’re out on the road today on your way home, laid over with no chance of making it home or already home or elsewhere with friends and family, below find the poem Pastore sent along in tribute to you. “I don’t know who wrote it,” she says of the variation on the rhyming couplets in “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
Here’s hoping you enjoy it this fine Christmas Eve:
A driver’s night before Christmas
The days before Christmas and all down the road, The drivers’ trucks were a-rollin’ to deliver their loads.
The drivers hauled everything from freight, food to toys, to deliver to homes for good girls and boys.
The cellphones did crackle and voices filled the air, With warm season’s greetings and warnings to bear.
All across the land, the people did sleep, While drivers keep rollin’ through ice, snow and sleet
They’re pushing for delivery, food, freight and toys must arrive, They’re the backbone of our country, necessary to survive.
When the trailer is empty, they’ll get on the phone, And check with their dispatch before heading for home.
The family will greet them with hugs and with smiles, you know it’s for them that they roll all those miles.
Remember the children, remember the wife, of the driver who sacrificed, every day risked his life.
Let’s stop while we’re at it to offer a prayer, That the drivers all made it safely, that they all got there.
We can all be proud of this job that we do, These drivers and shippers depend on me and on you,
So, friends, have a safe one as they roll out of sight, Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!