Loss On The Road

Loss on the Road

There are some things about trucking that nobody really prepares you for. One of the hardest is losing someone you love while you're hundreds of miles from home.

Recently, I lost a friend I had known for 35 years. Calling her a friend doesn't seem like enough as she was more like a sister. She stood beside me at our wedding, our families celebrated holidays together, and I spent many weekends cheering on her boys at their sporting events. She loved her family with all her heart, and every Christmas she turned her home into a place filled with warmth and joy.

We tried to get home before she passed, but we missed seeing her by just four days. Thankfully, we were able to attend her funeral. That meant more to us than I can put into words.

Then, as we were getting ready to head back out on the road, we received another phone call. My brother-in-law had passed away unexpectedly in his sleep. We will deliver the load we've committed to and then turn around and head home once again.

These experiences have made me think about something we don't talk about very often in trucking.

We spend our lives taking care of customers, meeting delivery times, and making a living for the people we love. But sometimes, in the middle of doing all that, we miss precious moments with those very people.

I've wrestled with feelings of guilt over the past few weeks. Guilt that I wasn't there sooner. Guilt that I didn't spend more time with the people who meant so much to me. Maybe some of you have felt that too.

It has caused me to ask myself some difficult questions. Am I finding the right balance between work and home? Am I making enough memories with the people I love? Am I so focused on making a living that I'm forgetting to truly live?

I don't have all the answers. I know we have bills to pay, commitments to keep, and families depending on us. That's the reality of this profession.

But I also know that the loads will keep coming. The freight will still need to move. The people we love, however, won't always be here.

So if this article encourages you to do one thing, I hope it's that you make the phone call. Take the extra day at home when you can. Hug your family a little longer before you leave.

You will never regret spending more time with the people you love. You may, however, regret not taking the opportunity when you had the chance. 

Here’s to millions of safe, profitable and BALANCED miles.

Kelly Plumb