I am sitting in the kitchen, looking out at my rose bush that is in full bloom despite my gardening skills. There are 8 basic's steps to trimming a rose bush. The weather that day was starting to get chilly, and I looked down at my gardening shears, the gardening clippers and my two rakes. I trimmed my rosebush using steps 2 and step 8, skipping the other essential steps. A huge 3-foot rosebush now looks like a salad bowl of short stems. Everyone who knew how to garden and came overlooking for my rosebush, saw my trimming would shake their heads slowly and told me I killed the rosebush.
Today, seeing a 4-foot rosebush full of red blooms in front of the sliding glass door makes the coffee I am drinking this morning taste even better than normal.
One of my greatest strengths is that when I have a task in front of me, I will get it done in (what I believe) is the most expedient way possible. I am the guy to call if you need to move something, have an emergency, or need to get something important done quickly to get things back on track and back to normal.
One of my greatest weaknesses is my greatest weakness. Most of the tasks in our daily lives do not need to be resolved in expedient ways. Trimming rose bushes for example, does not need a definitive, expedient response. But still...
I can hear the peals of laughter in the front room. Megan's laughter is very distinct and hearing it this morning makes me smile and very happy. I get up to see what is making her laugh like that and walk around the corner and see her running around the coffee table in her socks.
I freeze and take a deep breath.
I grab her as she runs by and ask her why she is running so slow. I put her on the couch and start to take off her socks off.
"What are you doing?" asks mom. A look of mild irritation on her face.
Megan has stopped laughing and is looking at me intently, wondering why I am taking her socks off.
"I am taking off her socks so she can run faster" I say, and with a flourish, take off her socks and put them in my pocket.
Megan is not running faster now, I have killed the mood, the race is over, and everyone is heading outside to blow up the wading pool and keep the party going. Mom glances over her shoulder and shakes her head at me.
I feel so relieved and go back to finish my coffee and soak up my prize rosebush. I can hear both Megan and Jake in the yard laughing again.
"Engine 3, Paramedic 4, respond to a 5-year-old female with a head injury" Kids are always the worst calls. Time becomes more important because the smaller bodies react more quickly to trauma, injury, and sickness.
For any adult, having a group of people come in with equipment, fill up a small space, and ask, touch, and reach out to you is frightening. For a kid, it can be terrifying and can make basic care a lot harder.
"Engine 3 in route, status 4" I say into the headset as we head to the address emergent. I tell Chris, if we beat the medics, he has primary patient care. More importantly, I tell Tom that he has the parents to take care of.
With two young kids at home, I understand that when they cry, I will do what I can to comfort and take care of them. We need to keep the parents close enough and still leave room for the Firefighters or Paramedic's to take care of them. It has always been a difficult balance. A crying, hurt kid tugs at every heart string that an any adult possess.
"Paramedic 4 arrival" I am relieved to hear Paramedic 4 has arrived ahead of Engine 3. Chris is a great EMT, but having the kid that is hurt in a Paramedic's hands is the best possible start.
"Engine 3 arrival, this is 4th Street Command, we will be investigating" The crew comes inside, and I walk to over the Paramedic to see how we can help. The Paramedic sees me walk in and nods to a very despondent father who is staring at his child eyes wide with tears.
On the carpeting floor, next to a glass coffee table is a wide eyed five-year-old who has a large cut on his head and is trying to find his parents in a crowded living room. Any head injury bleeds a great deal, and this is no exception.
The Paramedics are taking exceptional care of the young boy and have stopped the bleeding and are cleaning him up so they can transport him.
I can hear Dad talking to the policeman who arrived and saying over and over "It was an accident". He said he was chasing his son around the table and his son tripped and hit his head on the corner of the table. I look down and see the boy's socks with a flap in front of the toys where his socks slid down from the running.
I think of both of my kids, I cannot tell you how many times I have chased them in just socks for fun. It honestly never occurred to me to remove socks before seeing this.
The Paramedics are taking the son and mom out to the ambulance to transport them to the hospital. I hear on the radio that they are transporting him non emergent and breathe a sigh of relief. An emergent transport would have suggested a more critical situation.
I take another sip of coffee and I hear peals of laughter again from both Megan and Jake. The kiddie pool is full, and they are splashing each other and laughing their heads off. I just love hearing that.
Later that evening, I want to tell mom the reason I killed the mood earlier when Megan was running around the table in socks, but I do not do that.
Firefighting has given me a very unique set of bookmarks and landmarks that step on to and into normal everyday life unexpectedly.
Most of these will cause me to pause but not say anything. One of the things that has always frustrated me is the person who is trying to one up me. Everyone knows that one person that wants to be smarter and more experienced than anyone else. That person always has a reason that what you are doing is wrong and why they know better than you. They want and need to know why you are wrong.
For every parent, babysitter, and older sibling who has chased a kid in socks, there is nothing wrong with you and I certainly don't know more than you. Taking the socks off of Megan was me giving everyone the benefit of what I have seen without recounting the story of the kid who hit the corner of the table with his head that day.
I would not want to hear the story of the kid who hit his head on the corner of the table, even if my kid was running in socks.
I do not want to recount a list of cautionary tales to people. I may have seen more than you, but I do not know more than you. At the time I am writing this, I have not figured out a great way for you to benefit from what I have seen and not tell you a cautionary tale.
For every Firefighter out there, who loves the joy of the present moment, having an old bookmark or landmark step into or on your perfectly good day never stops being exhausting.
In a profession that has countless gifts there is a price for all the gifts.
I would appreciate it greatly if you do not let your children, grandchildren, or small children run in socks. I am hoping that the telling of this story is like my beloved rose bush, even if I trimmed it way back and made people shake their heads, the flowers will bloom like crazy next year.
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