Óscar Mauricio Morales works as a route driver in Colombia, and, on December 31st, he thought he wouldn’t arrive in time to welcome 2023 with his children. However, they surprised him by waiting for him when he arrived from his last trip.
At the last New Year’s celebration to bid farewell to 2022 and welcome the next 365 days, many people gathered for the festivities. It’s normal for families to get together on December 31 to have dinner and wait until 12:00 am for the first day of the year to begin. However, not everyone is so lucky.
This is the case of Óscar Mauricio Morales, a transport driver in the city of Medellín, Colombia, who has to work every day, even on New Year’s Eve, because his job demands it.
However, his family understands very well what their dad’s job is all about and supports him. In fact, for the New Year celebration, his two children (9 and 7 years old) were waiting for him at the Medellín Transport Terminal to give him a hug and a happy New Year.
The little ones knew that this would give their father a lot of joy, so they planned the surprise. The whole thing was recorded in a video that soon made its way around the internet because of how touching it was. “In the video you can’t even see the tears of the immense happiness it caused me,” said Morales, in conversation with El Tiempo.
“That day, I left Cartagena at 7:30 in the morning en route to Medellín. I arranged everything with my children’s grandmother, because I don’t live with them, that she would take the children when I arrived. What I didn’t know was that my friend had already organized the surprise of taking my children to the terminal”, said the driver.
This father was doing everything he could to get to his children’s house in time to see them, so he tried to save as much time as possible to be there early.
“I did that shift practically without stopping, and I was hungry because the time was very tight, but I couldn’t exceed the speed limit either. When I arrived in Santa Rosa de Osos, it was 10:50 at night and I didn’t think I was going to make it to Medellín before midnight. Thank God I arrived at the terminal at 11:58. My friend kept calling me to ask me where I was, and I was the happiest man in the world when I arrived and saw my children there,” he recalled.
Morales knows that it’s hard for him to work on these kinds of dates because it takes time away from being with his loved ones, but he also understands the importance of his work within the community.
“There are people who say how could a company not give drivers a day off on such a date, but it’s our job. I left Cartagena with 38 passengers, so if the company had stopped its transport, who would’ve united those 38 families? I did it with all the love in the world,” he said.
@mauriciomoralesalvarez37DIOS YO NO TENGO MAS NADA QUE PEDIRTE 🙏 Me Diste La Dicha Dios Mío De Llegar A Recibir El 2023 Al Lado De Mis Hijos 🥺😍💖❤️♬ sonido original – EL ÚLTIMO EMPERADOR
In the video, you can see the little ones’ happiness and emotion, which they transmit to their father. These children are my reason to keep on going, the reason why I’m still standing after having suffered a very big fall after my separation 14 months ago from a relationship of 11 years. They’ve sustained me,” Morales said.