Thank you.

  Today I was thinking about the thank you's I've heard on the job. I'm sure that many of my brother firefighters can relate to exactly how meaningful they are, if only for their rarity. Can you remember the last meaningful thank you you heard? The way it made you feel about yourself, and what you do everyday? I can, and I'm grateful everytime someone says thank you. This is one of the more memorable thank you's I've received.

  I don't remember what day of the week it was, But It was slightly before lunch. Lt. J. Smith, David Blount, and I were dispatched to first respond to an unresponsive patient at an address on East T_____ street. We arrived to find an elderly male supine in the floor, and entering the door, we heard him take that last rattling breath.His wife heard it too, and began hysterically crying  " Cheeky- Poo!!! Don't leave me!!!"
     As she begged her husband not to go,I knelt down beside him, adjusted his airway, and looked, listened, and felt. There was no breath sounds, no chest rise, and no pulse. "Cheeky-Poo" was quickly becoming a statistic. David and I flew into action, doing what we were trained to do, and this time, we got one back. It was incredible, and the only ROSC ( return of spontaneous circulation) I had seen up to that point in my career. It was miraculous.

  A couple of weeks after the incident, "Cheeky-Poo" came by the fire station. He and his wife were effusive in their gratitude. He took pictures with us in front of the Engine, left us a hand written thank you note, and referred to us as " the twilight retreivers". It felt awesome to know we made a difference. One of the things I still remember about his thank you, is the way he kept saying " thank you for being there."

  Thank you for being there? I didn't realize until after he said it, that this was the most significant thank you of all. It encompasses more than Thank you for a specific job, It recognizes the individuals desire to step in and assist, to get involved in someone elses crisis. It says " thank you for what you are willing to do".
  Every day in the United States, men and women get up, put on their uniform and go to their respective careers in Public Safety; standing in an attitude of preparedness, ready to intervene in someone else's emergency. Whether they have a significant call or not, They were there, ready and able to assist, waiting to stand between the citizens they serve, and whatever crisis might arise. 

They seldom hear a Thank you.

    Thinking of this one "Thank you" led me to think of the ones I probably should have heard, but didn't. Thinking of those led me to think of all the times "I" should have said thank you, and again, for whatever reason, I didn't.
 How very often GOD has stepped into my personal life and intervened, and how very rarely I have been appropriately thankful!! I know he is there, on a much greater scale than we could ever be, stepping in and helping, fixing the things I can't. He has stood between disaster and I so many times... how many of those times did HE know I was thankful?
  Better yet, How many times did he know I was thankful for all the times HE's been there, waiting quietly, ( and sometimes ignored) for the next time "The Tone" went off in my personal life, and he was needed to respond? And it also occurs to me that the miracle isn't the job he does, fixing my "self-induced" disasters...
It's all the times He's been there, waiting for me to need him... The miracle isn't the work... it isn't the curing of  "a leper", but the fact that the creator of the universe would be willing to hear my cry, see my distress, and step in to touch a leper at all.

 Thank's God... Thank you for being there, and thanks for touching me.

In loving memory of David (possum) Blount. One of the best men and firefighter's I have ever met.