Episode 82 Show Notes

Next Episode 82 Show Notes

• Channe        Drivers’ Night Before Christmas — a tribute from a dispatcher

Todd Dills   Dec 24, 2015

This story originally ran Dec. 24, 2012. 

This year, she came back with a new one, giving credit for its origins to fellow UVL agent Nilson Van and Storage “out of Fayetteville, N.C.,” she says. “I just changed some words to make it for Unigroup [UVL and Mayflower].”

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!

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES 

Well when it got close to Christmas when I was kid and I’m sure many more of you remember the SEARS catalog and a few others. This is what we had when we were kids, there was no Amazon. We had a catalog to look through and circle with a pen or marker the things we really wanted, so we thought. Lol.  You fold the pages over to mark the best things you wanted so your parents could find it easier. Boy some of us couldn’t wait for that catalog to come in the mail each year. Then it was a crap shoot to what ya got, it wasn’t always what you wanted. For some reason moms always thought you needed clothes, and we all knew we only needed toys, bunches and bunches of toys! For another reason moms always got their way, but it was for our own good I suppose. 

    We had artificial trees, that were decorated with whatever we had laying around the house. Store bought or stuff you made in school for arts and crafts. We all know that macaroni was a staple of all decorations back in the day!

    There was always either a school play or church program that had a nativity scene or short play about baby Jesus. Mothers would help with homemade costumes that were so ridiculous to wear, but we did anyway to make them happy. Knowing that the present quality depended on how we behaved this time of year.

    Then there was the Christmas music and Christmas TV shows we all grew accustomed to each year. Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red nosed reindeer, Charlie Brown’s Christmas, The Grinch, and a few more I’m sure I’m not remembering right now. If you have some favorites let us know, send a message thru the socials or email us. The music we had for the holidays was unforgettable too. 

Wells heres hoping you and yours have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!