My Dad sent me a copy of a survey he had to fill out as part of his exit program. One of the questions was "What got you interested in the fire service?". His response made me smile because I was able to picture it perfectly in my mind. He said "My Dad- he was the Fire Chief in the Textile Mill he worked and he was a volunteer fire fighter in my home town. I remember the sirens sounding at night, hearing Dad on the phone getting the address or the location in the mill then driving off in his 57’ Chevy pick-up. My Mom- who on Saturdays would reward my brother (also a fire fighter) and I with a trip to the firehouse if we behaved while she shopped for groceries. "
I can just see my Dad and uncle as kids gleaming with joy to stop by the firehouse for being well behaved. I can literally hear my Granny's voice telling them to behave so they could stop by. I can picture my Papa listening to his fire scanner years after he quit volunteering. The thought of these things makes my heart smile.
So enough of the sappy, let's get to fun stuff. My Dad had not a clue that he was going to have a few surprise guests at his retirement get-togethers. He repeatedly told me and others he didn't like surprises, didn't want a party and didn't want to be the center of attention for anything. So with all that said he thought he was just having a day out with his shift that involved race car driving, bowling on Friday and a low key cookout on Saturday with just his shift. Ha, he was wrong. While those things did happen, my Uncle Dennis, my little brother Dylan and I all planned to make our appearances. I do think he was suspecting Dylan since he is only 4 or so hours away from home at college. Now my uncle and I were another subject. As you all know I live in Tulsa and my uncle lives about an hour or so south of Atlanta. With the help of my Dad's girlfriend Cindy and his co-worker Kit, we flew in, were picked up and delivered to the scene of a major surprise. At that point the shift had made it to a bowling alley. My uncle and I walked in with my Dad's back to the door. I walked up behind him while he was sitting down, leaned over his shoulder and planted a huge kiss on his cheek and said "Hey Dad!". It took him a second to put it together who I was and that I was really there. When he stood up to hug me he saw over my shoulder and found his kid brother standing there too:) Another moment that made my heart smile, my Dad actually teared up. He was so happy to have us there. It's really hard to surprise my Dad, but we did it. Now skip forward to Saturday morning. That cat was a little out of the bag with Dylan because a friend had kind of slipped up and said they thought he was coming into town. We tried to cover it up as much as possible. So Saturday morning while my Dad was in the kitchen making breakfast, Dylan strolled in, the look again on my Dad's face was priceless. He was so glad to have us all mostly together. With work, locations of where we live, college, ect it can be difficult to get the family together so we try our best to enjoy it when we can.
My Dad did a lot of amazing things while he was working. More then just putting out fires and dealing with car crashes, the every day type deals of saving or helping people. He's delivered babies, he's traveled the world for disaster relief with VA-TF1. He's helped with search and rescue all over the U.S. Just to name a few... he went the the Phillipines when I was about 4 or 5 to help after a major earth quake, went to the Embassy Bombings in Kenya, was at the scene after the plane crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, helped after the OKC bombings, has helped after countless earth quakes, floods, and hurricanes here in the U.S. I was junior in high school when 9/11 happened. I can vividly remember where I was when I saw on the news the second plane had crashed into The World Trade Center. I knew I needed to call my Dad. I ran to a bathroom at school, pulled out my cell phone and called him. He was walking out the door to get on a helicopter and head to the Pentagon. It was a quick "I love you and I'll call you when I can" conversation. A day later he called me, but I could barely hear him. He was at the Pentagon and with all the loud noise it made it pretty much impossible to understand anything, but I knew it was my Dad and I knew he was ok.
So the weekend as a whole was fantastic. I got to not only spend quality time with family but with some of my Dad's closest friends. I got to be a part of a big moment for my Dad. There wasn't another place in the world I would have rather been. Cheers Dad to the next chapter:) You've made me so proud!
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