I've been wanting to write this for every bit of the last week. And yet, a part of me wanted to never write it. This past week has been chock full of emotional quicksand and I wanted to male sure, out of self-preservation, I could sit down and work on this without losing my shit. To be honest, my original open for this was going to be a disclaimer about how; if I didn't make you cry reading this, or at least put a lump in your throat, I'd fail at my craft.
I don't feel that way now.
For the most part.
Starting the week early, the Reigning Princess marked a birthday last Saturday. Double digits, no less. Regular readers will recognize the bittersweet aspect of an event like this. But that kid and her megawatt smile can go a long way towards smoothing rough edges.
Monday was a wild ride. In no particular order -
I picked up prescription refills for Sophie's many ailments. Among other things, these make it easier for her to go on our walks together. Which often reminds me of how much Diane would have loved taking her on those walks.
I took our local (ish) pink fire truck (engine) to her new home in Rock Falls, IL. I wrote about how awesome the people are out there and this just reinforces it to me.
I pre-signed the closing papers for the sale of the Wonder Lake house. I wrote about putting the house on the market last year and the deal is finally done. It's a huge burden off my shoulders financially and a smaller burden emotionally. I've been out of the house for over five years, so I've had plenty of time to get used to that, but still...
Speaking of having time to absorb an event; it was also 14 years since the crash that took Caitlin. That sounds a little flippant and, of course, this is not a topic I take lightly. But the fact remains it's been a long time and we've had a lot of practice at dealing with all the various mutations of life with a loss. Time has turned the flood of emotions into a leaky faucet. Metaphorically.
So that took care of my Monday.
Tuesday was a meeting, Wednesday, the 14th anniversary of Caitlin's death, Thursday was (due to the organ transplant timeline) 14 years to the last time we saw her. You get the idea. I recognized, after the fact, there were a few times I was glad I was by myself for the most part. My human interaction skills had eroded a little bit, at least temporarily.
So, it took me a while to get back to where I was ready (ish) to write about the week.
Now, to prove to you that I've come 180 degrees from wanting you to cry, I'm going to share a story to make you laugh.
Several years ago, we had a particular frequent flyer, a blind guy that was also diabetic. He was common knowledge around the FD or so I thought, since he had been racking up miles before I got hired there. On one occasion we were called because his blood sugar was very low. I don't recall what it was, but he wasn't near functional when we arrived. As I recall, his brother-in-law lived with him at the time, to help around the house as needed. Now, this patient was frequently unpleasant to deal with, but, for whatever reason, I always got along with him. We got his sugar up to a normal level and he didn't want (or need) to go to the hospital so my partner at the time; ohhh let's call him "Dan" was getting the refusal form ready. I was seated on our patients left side. The BIL brought out a sandwich to help in stabilizing the patients sugar. I told the patient exactly where I placed the sandwich and he reached for it and started eating. "Dan" had the form ready and handed the laptop to our patient so he could sign.
I looked at "Dan".
He looked back at me blankly as he told the patient to sign and we'd leave.
I looked at "Dan"
He waved the laptop impatiently in front of our patient.
I looked at "Dan" and said "Uhhh he's blind 'Dan'"
"Dan" said "Here's where I need you to sign" loudly. Check that, VERY LOUDLY
I helpfully pointed out to him "'Dan' he's blind, NOT deaf!"
Our patient, the rest of our crew, pretty much everyone in the room aside from "Dan" was laughing hysterically.
Ahhh firehouse stories, is there nothing sacred?
Short answer? Nope.
Peace
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