Last week The Fireguy lost a fellow firefighter brother due to a line of duty death, marking the first such loss in the department history. As we all know, there is no good time to loose a loved one, but this time of year seems to make it especially difficult. This young firefighter leaves behind a wife and two young sons, also missing his Christmas Day birthday by days. The service was beyond words; a full ceremonial event. To see hundreds of uniformed personnel was amazing and the church overflowing with mourners was so humbling. There was no less than 35-40 various fire apparatus parked in front of and leading to the church. The bagpipers and honor guard performed their duties flawlessly. I wanted to take my camera to record this event, but then again I didn't want to be 'that person' at a funeral service. I took the photo below from the car and apologize for the poor quality but to see the American flag draped from two ladder trucks filled me with such emotion.
Following the service my Fireguy and I returned home and discussed the afternoon. It was the first service that we had attended that we were not together. All uniformed personnel were seated together; the spouses/significant others were seated elsewhere. It is one thing to observe the brotherhood of the firefighters, but I realized today also the 'sisterhood' that we wives/siginificant others make up. We take on a 'burden' if you will of carrying on with life at home while our firefighters put their lives on the line. Okay, sorry... back on track! This section is not about me, but about the realization of our public servants risking their own lives selfishly to protect and serve our communities. Take a moment if you will to pray for the family of this firefighter; pray for strength and comfort. The family has a very strong faith in God and I feel this will help them so much during this painful time in their lives.
Thank you for reading this rather lengthy post, but I needed to get this off my chest and felt that you all would understand...
3 comments:
I totally *get* this now and to be honest it didn't really hit me till we had kids? The comradery, empathy and understanding that other FD wives have (and especially other ones that are moms) really is a unique experience. I'm so sorry for this loss, it's just terrible and I felt so bad for the family when Jason told me. I CANNOT imagine. So glad you were able to attend his service though, I imagine it was beautiful.
The family is in our prayers!
Thanks for sharing and serving as a reminder to those of us who do not work in a public service career where life and death are part of every day. Your picture was amazing.
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