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A Firefighter's Favorite Cookie

Mar 032010

We got our Girl Scout cookies just yesterday. We experienced a bit of a delay thanks to the Never Ending Winter of Doom. I had two of my favorites last night. Just two. I asked if it was possible to eat just two, considering that two Samoas pack 150 calories and I didn’t want to exceed my daily limit. While it was suggested that I just eat the entire box so that I didn’t have the same problem today, I did manage to eat just two.

Later, as I stared longingly at the box from across the room, I realized something. Samoas are a firefighter’s favorite cookie!

Firefighter helmet wearing Girl Scout! A female firefighter showing girls how to use a fire hose! Hooray for the Girl Scouts!

I then did a little Googling to see if there was any specific reason as to why the Samoas box features firefighting as a profession. During that search, I found a happy little story about a fire station serving as the delivery center for a troop’s cookie order. (And a few other stories that were similar!) I then learned of a special badge, the 2010 Gift of Caring Project, which encourages Girl Scouts to deliver boxes donated by their customers to firefighters, police officers, shelters and other non-profit organizations. I can tell you that FireDad’s station wouldn’t turn down a box of free cookies.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you why the Girl Scouts chose to use a firefighter themed picture on their Samoas box. They’re two great pictures and I send a big thumbs up to the Girl Scouts for including them because we know that women make wonderful firefighters. I would tell you that we were making the Samoa the Official Cookie of the FireFamily but, alas, FireDad doesn’t like coconut.

Guess I’ll have to eat them, two by two…

Mmm, Cookies

…all by myself. Done and done.

Working With the Fire Schedule

fire life 5 Responses »

Feb 152010

When FireDad and I started dating, he was finishing up his schooling to become a full Paramedic. He was working full-time at the local ambulance company. He was also in the Army. And I knew that his long term goal was to become a professional, paid firefighter. I don’t know why I was surprised when he got on the fire department and continued to work at the other two jobs.

Eventually he finished his time with the Army. Now he only works at the ambulance company on an as-needed basis which, thankfully, is a rare occurrence. Today being one of those days I am left to think about how firefighters often work more than one job. Quite honestly, it’s one of the reasons that working outside the home is so difficult for firefighter spouses. As Val from Fire Fighter Wife said,

If I held a 9-5 I’d have been fired many times in the last 3 years.

It’s true. Many things prompted my departure from the news station in 2006. I felt that I was missing too much of BigBrother’s developmental awesomeness. I was paying out almost all of what I was making in child care. As FireDad was still working both jobs and still active duty in the military at the time, our schedule was stretched past its elasticity. I had missed too much work due to scheduling conflicts, doctor’s appointments and child care issues. When I suffered a miscarriage that summer and my employer refused to be understanding, that straw broke the camel’s back and I started paving the way to come home to work.

Working at home with the fire schedule isn’t without challenges either. Trying to meet deadlines while chasing two little boys around our house (see pictures here) isn’t always the easiest thing ever. If I hadn’t left the news station, I’m sure that I would have been fired at some point since the fall of that year. Like Val mentioned, we’ve taken extended vacations, stayed an extra day or two at my parents or just generally had a relaxing day when we need it. As FireDad is working at the ambulance company today and the fire department for 24 hours tomorrow, I’m going to go ahead and claim Wednesday as a family fun day. But my deadlines will still loom and the work will need to be finished despite any amount of fun that is to be had.

Adding in my part time job has been an interesting transition that is working surprisingly well. I had thought that while the kids were still small and at home with me most of the time (BigBrother goes to preschool three days a week) that I couldn’t work outside the home. I’ve found something that may not pay the big bucks but allows me to stretch my creative wings just a little bit and talk to adults on occasion. So far the boys have mostly been with either FireDad or a grandparent when I’ve had to work. Once we had a day like today where our schedules simply conflicted and we had to call in our trusted, awesome babysitter. I think I’ve used her less this year than I did last year before I started working. Life is funny that way.

As I sit here and count down the hours until FireDad is home today so that I can get some of my things done, I am reminded to be grateful for the jobs we do have. We’re the lucky ones, especially knowing that so many families are struggling right now. Yes, sometimes it’s hard to schedule. Sometimes we’re overtired. We’ve had to make hard decisions and follow through with the difficulties that followed. But not only are we both working but we’re both working in/at things we love while making time for family. Yes, I think we are the luckiest.

Happy Firefighter

Remind me of this the next time that FireDad is off on a fire for more than 36 hours, okay?

Five Year Fire Anniversary

fire life 11 Responses »

Feb 092010

Today my husband celebrates five years with the fire department. I celebrate with him, of course, because the past five years have been amazing. Busy. Kind of crazy. Sometimes very difficult. Maybe a bit tiresome and exhausting at times. But amazing.

He hasn’t changed much. I mean, look at him.

Five Years

He’s still a baby face as he was in this picture five years ago. I don’t think he’s been asked if he’s old enough to drive the fire truck recently but he still regularly gets carded. He may look the same but he’s changed a lot as well. In good ways… mostly.

The adjustment period of being on the fire department wasn’t always easy. Of course, we further complicated things by immediately conceiving and adding BigBrother to our family. And then we bought this house. And then we had LittleBrother. So from picture frame one to picture frame two in the above photo, a lot happened. Yet he never backed down from the challenge. I suppose that’s the firefighter in him.

I won’t say that I worry less when he runs off to a fire. We all know that I worry. I will say that I’ve gotten used to the worry which is entirely different than not worrying. Adjusting to the schedule was also a challenge, one that I think we both struggle with at times as well. I think, as I said above, we’ve struggled most while also undergoing other personal life changes and challenges. The sleep deprivation of the newborn phase doesn’t always work well with the sleep deprivation of firefighting or the sleep deprivation of solo parenting brought on by firefighting. But we made it through that… twice over.

For five years, I’ve sent him off to work every third day, knowing that he’ll be home twenty-four hours later. For five years, he’s come home twenty-four hours later and made the coffee, helping me get the day started for forty-eight hours together. For five years, we’ve learned more about the fire life and about each other. While this particular anniversary isn’t our anniversary (ours is in December), it’s still a milestone I think we both celebrate.

I mean, five years means three weeks of vacation instead of two. Celebration indeed.

I can’t wait to see what the next five, ten, fifteen and twenty years bring us with regard to fire stories, memories and family life. No more pregnant shots like this:

Pregnant with BigBrother

Or this:

Pregnant with LittleBrother

But, most definitely more of this:

Family Picture, May 2009

Happy Five Year Fire Anniversary, FireDad! We’re proud of you!

(But really… three weeks of vacation! WOOHOO!)

Book Review: Out and About at the Fire Station.

Reviews 2 Responses »

Jan 152010

Out and About at the Fire Station is another firefighting book for the younger readers. We grabbed it at the library on our last trip through the stacks. It’s 24 pages long of firefighting information and great illustrations that my boys (mostly) loved. It’s also part of a series on field trips, some of which include the Dairy Farm and the Zoo.

The story is about a class that takes a field trip to a fire station. At the very beginning of the book, we’re presented with a list of questions that one of the students in the class has about firefighters. I thought it was a great list and an important page not to just skip over if you have a child that is old enough for reading comprehension and retention. The list has these questions.

1. How do firefighters find fires?
2. What other jobs do firefighters have besides fighting fires?
3. Do firefighters sleep in their gear?
4. What do they do while they’re waiting for fires?

Those are some good questions. In fact, I just recently learned that FireDad does not, in fact, sleep in his blue workpants. You would think I would have known that as we’ve been married for five years but, well, I didn’t. I learn new things every day! I digress. The book starts out with the kids visiting the fire department and meeting Firefighter Tim and Firefighter Raj.

While this book has a good mix of skin colors both on the fire department and in the class, I did notice that the only female firefighter was on the next to last page, walking a dog. While not quite as antiquated as the old firefighter books that we have, I still find it somewhat disheartening.

The rest of the book is decent despite the lack of female firefighters on the crew. (If you’re looking for a good female centered firefighter book, read my review of My Mom is a Firefigher.) The questions at the beginning of the book are answered as are many others. We learn about trucks, what else the firefighters have (rescue boats, an ambulance) in their garage, how far a ladder on a fire engine can reach and much more. We even learn a bit about arson, as in what it is and why it’s bad, not how to do it!

No good firefighter book is complete without a lesson in safety. After we learn that firefighters are busy all day (checking trucks, visiting schools and so on), we’re given a brief lesson in fire safety. I found the particular page to be too wordy and not really geared toward the baby-preschool age group that it is supposedly written for. Hopefully parents reading this long page to their kids can keep it interesting. Ideas include actually having your kid show you how to stop, drop and roll or how to feel if their door is hot.

Despite the lack of females and the wordy last page, the book does hold its own. The illustrations are very interesting, giving both BigBrother and LittleBrother many things to look at on each page. They enjoyed pointing at things and either asking questions or telling me what they knew about life in a fire station.

As the book is only available in hardback on Amazon for $22.60, I don’t think we’ll be purchasing it. I can see them borrowing it from the library again as we have done with many a fire book in the past. If you can find it in a soft cover, it might be a welcome addition to your own library.

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