A Few Things.
Another snow day and at 1:00 I headed down to the station, hoping someone would be around to show me something good. Maybe we'd get a call and I could ride on an engine again. This brotherhood shit gets into your blood, it's the stuff of life. You can't really describe it to people; it's just a tacit understanding among those of us who are civil servants. I was thinking of St. Crispian's speech today while I was poking around the trucks in the bay, in particular:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
But anyway, I got to the station and OJ was the 24-hr guy, and Rob was there doing station duty. My spirit secretly did a cartwheel because Rob goes out of his way to teach me stuff. Since OJ was there, I knew it would be just a matter of time until Rob came out because he likes to get into stuff just as much as I do. I think that after 4 years on the department he's still as excited to be doing the job as I am, being new.
My hunch was right and it wasn't long before he was going around all the trucks with me. We pulled stuff down and he explained it, and I noticed that his hands have as many scrapes and cuts as mine. Worker's hands. After I asked a bazillion questions he looked at me and said, "want to take 44 out and try some of this stuff?" I just looked at him. 44 is the rescue truck I got to ride on to a call the other night.
"Wait, like take it out of the station? Seriously? Me and you?"
"Yeah, we can pull the jaws off and you can mess around with 'em. I can explain this stuff to you a million times, but you're always going to be apprehensive about it until you get to have it in your hands."
I am trying really hard to not do Anne's little geek dance at this point. I said, "uhhhh, yeah!!" I hurried up and jumped into the cab before someone burst my bubble. He started it up and explained absolutely everything in the cab, how it worked, when I would need to use it. We pulled out and he kept explaining things. I felt like I was 13 years old and on my first date. So freaking excited and afraid that at any moment it could end! We played with the air tools, the cutter and spreader, the retractable light panel.
I love this job. I love this job! The whole time I was there I couldn't stop feeling so incredibly lucky. Everyone is so freaking awesome and everything I've learned is so exciting. When I roll up to a call, pop my trunk and start getting into my turn-outs, heads start to turn in my direction and there's no way to describe what that feels like. "Dude, a female firefighter!" I heard someone say with admiration. And I hope it doesn't sound like I'm gloating, or seeking praise or glory. I barely know what I'm even doing yet. But to think of the long line of Irish civil servants that I come from, to think of my mom's struggle for equality among their ranks... it makes me raise my head up to think that I'm continuing that legacy. And to walk up to the truck and stand around with the guys who already are like my extended family...
Civil service is the best kept secret among the working class. There is no amount of college education that could possibly compete with this job.
But, I digress. When we got back into the bay OJ was parking the aerial. I asked Rob about training on the aerial, and he said that in the summer I'll have the opportunity to RAPPEL OFF OF IT! He said that most Mondays over the summer entail going out and getting dirty. I started talking to him about the agility test, and how climbing up the aerial was the scariest part for me. I admitted that I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but that once I conquered the aerial I knew I would be fine with the rest of it. He said,
"Yeah, I remember that day. I was one of the people timing you. I could tell you were nervous because after each event you'd say, 'how'd I do?!' You were going faster than the guys, but I wasn't allowed to tell you that because you're not allowed to talk about other cadet's tests. It was funny though... you were kicking ass and you had absolutely no idea."
What a good day.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
But anyway, I got to the station and OJ was the 24-hr guy, and Rob was there doing station duty. My spirit secretly did a cartwheel because Rob goes out of his way to teach me stuff. Since OJ was there, I knew it would be just a matter of time until Rob came out because he likes to get into stuff just as much as I do. I think that after 4 years on the department he's still as excited to be doing the job as I am, being new.
My hunch was right and it wasn't long before he was going around all the trucks with me. We pulled stuff down and he explained it, and I noticed that his hands have as many scrapes and cuts as mine. Worker's hands. After I asked a bazillion questions he looked at me and said, "want to take 44 out and try some of this stuff?" I just looked at him. 44 is the rescue truck I got to ride on to a call the other night.
"Wait, like take it out of the station? Seriously? Me and you?"
"Yeah, we can pull the jaws off and you can mess around with 'em. I can explain this stuff to you a million times, but you're always going to be apprehensive about it until you get to have it in your hands."
I am trying really hard to not do Anne's little geek dance at this point. I said, "uhhhh, yeah!!" I hurried up and jumped into the cab before someone burst my bubble. He started it up and explained absolutely everything in the cab, how it worked, when I would need to use it. We pulled out and he kept explaining things. I felt like I was 13 years old and on my first date. So freaking excited and afraid that at any moment it could end! We played with the air tools, the cutter and spreader, the retractable light panel.
I love this job. I love this job! The whole time I was there I couldn't stop feeling so incredibly lucky. Everyone is so freaking awesome and everything I've learned is so exciting. When I roll up to a call, pop my trunk and start getting into my turn-outs, heads start to turn in my direction and there's no way to describe what that feels like. "Dude, a female firefighter!" I heard someone say with admiration. And I hope it doesn't sound like I'm gloating, or seeking praise or glory. I barely know what I'm even doing yet. But to think of the long line of Irish civil servants that I come from, to think of my mom's struggle for equality among their ranks... it makes me raise my head up to think that I'm continuing that legacy. And to walk up to the truck and stand around with the guys who already are like my extended family...
Civil service is the best kept secret among the working class. There is no amount of college education that could possibly compete with this job.
But, I digress. When we got back into the bay OJ was parking the aerial. I asked Rob about training on the aerial, and he said that in the summer I'll have the opportunity to RAPPEL OFF OF IT! He said that most Mondays over the summer entail going out and getting dirty. I started talking to him about the agility test, and how climbing up the aerial was the scariest part for me. I admitted that I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but that once I conquered the aerial I knew I would be fine with the rest of it. He said,
"Yeah, I remember that day. I was one of the people timing you. I could tell you were nervous because after each event you'd say, 'how'd I do?!' You were going faster than the guys, but I wasn't allowed to tell you that because you're not allowed to talk about other cadet's tests. It was funny though... you were kicking ass and you had absolutely no idea."
What a good day.
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