After countless nights of filling out 10 page applications and tireless hours on the roads driving to city after city to tell them why he would love to live in their town and serve their community, Stephen has finally landed his dream of becoming a Firefighter. And you know what? I wouldn't trade one hour of the time it took. The process has sent us both into tale spins of insanity at times, forcing us to postpone flights, cancel events, call in sick to work...need I go on? But without such dedication, I wonder if the prize at the end would have been nearly as exciting? Doubtful.
So today (a bit late...he actually graduated his academy, yes another one, on June 27th) I announce to you that Stephen is an official Firefighter for the City of Downey. I don't expect things to get easier any time soon (he's a Rookie for the next 18 months...and we all know what that means), but it sure is nice to celebrate his achievement.
The pictures are from Stephen's graduation from the Downey Fire Academy (or "Tower" as they call it). In the second picture, Stephen is the middle guy. And yes, there is a car flipped over in the foreground, which they used when demonstrating their skills with the "jaws of life" tools. My all time favorite moment though, had to be when they took each of the guys academy tee shirts, laid them across a gas line and lit them on fire. Hallelujah...those stinky disgusting stained shirts are history and it's time to put on the official Firefighter uniform!!!
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After countless nights of filling out 10 page applications and tireless hours on the roads driving to city after city to tell them why he would love to live in their town and serve their community, Stephen has finally landed his dream of becoming a Firefighter. And you know what? I wouldn't trade one hour of the time it took. The process has sent us both into tale spins of insanity at times, forcing us to postpone flights, cancel events, call in sick to work...need I go on? But without such dedication, I wonder if the prize at the end would have been nearly as exciting? Doubtful.
So today (a bit late...he actually graduated his academy, yes another one, on June 27th) I announce to you that Stephen is an official Firefighter for the City of Downey. I don't expect things to get easier any time soon (he's a Rookie for the next 18 months...and we all know what that means), but it sure is nice to celebrate his achievement.
The pictures are from Stephen's graduation from the Downey Fire Academy (or "Tower" as they call it). In the second picture, Stephen is the middle guy. And yes, there is a car flipped over in the foreground, which they used when demonstrating their skills with the "jaws of life" tools. My all time favorite moment though, had to be when they took each of the guys academy tee shirts, laid them across a gas line and lit them on fire. Hallelujah...those stinky disgusting stained shirts are history and it's time to put on the official Firefighter uniform!!!.jpg)
