When I was 14 my dad, a truck driver all his life, sat my two younger brothers and me down at the kitchen table.
"Well, you kids are getting old enough to start talking about college...so what do you want to be?"
I was the first to speak up. "I want to drive a truck."
My dad's fist hit the table and he yelled, "No daughter of mine is driving a truck!"
End of conversation.
I ended up getting married at 16, and stayed at home to raise my two kids. After they were grown and I was about to turn 40, my marriage ended in divorce. I moved out of state to start over and soon met someone who changed my life.
His name was Ronnie but everybody called him Doc. He drove from Columbus, Ohio, to Indianapolis, Ind. every night for RPS.
As we got to know each other I told him about my dream of becoming a truck driver. When he realized I was serious, he took me over to the yard at RPS and put me in a truck, then asked me to drive in-between two trailers. I did. He looked over and said, "You didn't even hesitate. "Was I supposed to?" I replied.
That was the beginning. Doc and I got married, and I went to truck driving school.
I started at RPS on March 26, 1996. RPS sold out to FedEx Ground where my husband and I bought a truck and became contractors. We have been a running team ever since, though our marriage ended in divorce after only 4 years.
I love what I do - meeting new people every week and seeing all the things that you could never see sitting behind a desk.
I love every sunset and sunrise. I still get up and love to go to work. After 9 years on the road, I have learned so much.
My dad retired from Roadway after 25 years of safe driving, and only had a few years out of the truck before he passed away in 2003. But I was able to take him with me on two trips, and they will forever be one of my most treasured memories. Of course, I had to remind him of the time he hit his fist on the kitchen table and said, "No daughter of mine...!"
As he got out of the truck on our last trip together he looked up at me and said, "I'm proud of you baby! You're a damn good driver!"
I still carry a picture of him right above my head in the truck and you see Roadway Trucks everywhere. Now I am running the same route he did for years - Indianapolis to Springfield, Mo.
The dream of a young 14-year-old girl finally came true. I'm still out there trucking and I'm still learning something new everyday.
