Firefighters galore!

-Firefighter-

That seems to be the theme around our house the past few days. Yesterday marked a major milestone in my sweet dad's life. He officially retired from working for the city of San Antonio! He began his career a mere 38 years ago as a San Antonio firefighter. A few years into the program he got stationed to work at the airport. That's the first I really remember of his job. Looking back, I can picture my brother and me going with him to the station to visit with the guys. While he went inside to talk with his friends, he let me and Matthew loose to run around the station, crawl on the firetrucks and play with the helmets etc ... I remember having a blast while I was there, always wanting to honk the horn; inevitably I always left with soot on my hands, knees and clothes. It was awesome!

I was in third grade when he was stationed there, I can remember this because my class did a patriotic themed chapel service that year. Well, up until that point I had been allowed to crawl all over the cool firetrucks whenever I wanted. But it was 1991-92 and Desert Storm was in full force so the city had to tighten all of its' security measures which meant that little kids were no longer allowed in anymore ... period! I vividly remember driving up to the fire station, pushing the little button outside the gate to talk to my dad to see if we could come in and visit and sadly, we were told that it wasn't allowed. Sad day in the life of a 9 year old.

I also remember that I was never allowed to go inside the station, but Matthew always was? It was beyond my comprehension that men actually lived at that place and thus the environment might not have been ideal for a little girl. Again, looking back it all makes sense, but seemed quite unfair at the time.

Besides those funny memories, when I think about my dad in the context of work a few admirable character traits come to mind. His job demanded that he work for 24 hours straight and he would often do this every other day. I think about my job now and how if I don't get at least 9 hours of rest I'm dragging the next day. I can't remember a time when he ever complained about this ... JOYFUL. His shift also began at 7 am, but I remember him getting up at 4:30am just so he could go in and re-leave someone else a little early, knowing they would probably be tired after being up for 24 hours straight...SELFLESS. I don't remember ever hearing about the stress of his job, and I'm sorry, but working the 9-1-1 calls in San Antonio must have been stressful, but he never brought his work home ... PROTECTOR. He got to wear this really cool uniform with boots and a badge and took so much pride in making sure it was cleaned and pressed before heading into work ... RESPECTFUL. Obviously the fact that he stuck with the same job for 38 years says something in and of itself ... COMMITTED. I love that my dad has so much character that is admirable and worthy of praise.

I would never have been able to attend Castle Hills, go to TCU and have the wedding of my dreams without the hard work, persistance and dedication of both of my parents. I am forever indebted to them and am so proud of my dad as he embarks upon a new stage of life. While bittersweet, it will be exciting for me to see how he gets to spend the next stage of his life doing things for himself, that he's always wanted to do.

And on a less sentimental note, Grayson is a firefighter for Halloween this year. I thought it was fitting to add the picture to this post. I sure do love the firemen in my life!