today i celebrated a year of otr and it felt like the world knew

While I was closing my doors, i heard someone yell “Driver!”
This older white guy with a grey beard and shades stopped me so he can ask me if it’s okay if he checks out the cab. he says he used to be a trucker. i said of course. he tells me that he’s retired now.
“Why’d you retire?”
After 20 years of safe driving, he blew a steer and went down a cliff carrying 75k pounds. eventually a tree stopped the momentum of the truck while it slid down on it’s side.
With massive adrenalin pumping, he looked down and saw that both his legs were pinned by the engine pushing through the cab. he managed to get one of his legs unstuck. when he woke up, he was in a helicopter headed towards the hospital.
Damn near after every interaction i’ve ever had with a trucker, we always end it with “drive safe.”
i’m not sure if it was the added head nod to reaffirm his goodbye or the feeling of familiarity, but it definitely felt warm.
I wish there was more to the story than a simple “drive safe” but i don’t believe we, as drivers, realize how lucky we are to be in a profession that gives us so much time to self reflect. we’re forced to sit with our thoughts, failures, regrets, achievements, goals, and endeavors… and we still choose to do it the next day. until one day we dont.