Yesterday I was exhausted. All the excitement of getting geared up to go to Ohio, the long car ride to know where, the worrying about if our daughter was ok, the not getting upset when we missed our trip, the whole I am sure it’s not really a bomb thing, just left me a little drained, so I took Wednesday to relax.

I got up early to make my kids breakfast and pack their lunches then sent them off to school and crawled back into bed. I did some blogging and drank my coffee. By 11am I transitioned to the coach and iced tea. I spent the rest of the day reading. I finished my book Battle Ground Pacific and read 2 others. When the kiddos got home from school we did homework and I made dinner(beef ragu over cheesy polenta). I finally showered at about 6pm. I normally am not a lounge around the house kind of gal, but it felt good.

My hubby and I had our EMT interview at 8pm. When we arrived at the building there wasn’t anyone around, so we just looked at the pictures on the wall and entertained ourselves. It turned out the people were in a side room conducting an interview. A few minutes after we arrived a young girl walked in shaky and nervous. She was there to interview for a junior membership. She was the sweetest thing. I spent sometime encouraging her to relax and just be herself.  She seemed to feel better and was able to settle herself a little.

Soon they called us back. The interview was very easy. They were as excited about us applying as we were about wanting to be selected. Typically they get very young volunteers and not all of them take it seriously. There is a high drop out rate and of those who finish, not many actually volunteer. The county is getting tired of spending money and getting very little return on their investment. Makes sense. I know how disappointing it is to have someone commit to you and then not follow through.

The interview was more them explaining to us what is required and then encouraging us to join the team. They liked that we were older and both have experience in other careers. Having college and professional jobs, I think gave them confidence that we can and do follow through. Not that either of those things are required to be a good EMT, but of late their students have not been as serious about learning and working as they would like.

The EMT side has not had any trouble, but our volunteer fire department has gone through some major changes due to more than one scandal. Both groups are trying to do a better job of selecting candidates.

For whatever reason we appeared to them to be the kind of people they wanted on their team. Half way through the process we were told we were in. The rest of the time we spent chit chatting about training. He wondered if I would be committed to training as some people like to work the shifts, but not continue their training beyond the basics.  My husband giggled because, of course, I am kind of into training and preparing myself for whatever task is ahead of me. The gentleman asking the question got a huge smile on his face when I told him that not only am I dedicated to learning, but also to putting my skills to work. I am not much for going through the motions. I didn’t tell him, that is it not unusual for me to overwork my trainers. Didn’t want to scare him off:)

It didn’t take to long to get around to guns. They asked what I did for work. I told them I work for a firearms instructor and they were thrilled. I guess the head lady who was not there just bought a pink .22. I think she is just starting out in her gun journey.  The main lady conducting our interview told me she has a 9mm. We didn’t get into specifics. They were, of course, thrilled to have a retired Marine and before he is even certified they were asking him if he would be interested in attending an instructor school and eventually teaching EVOC.

Lets see, they also shared some war stories. They told us that they had a student who got certified and then her second call out as an actual EMT was a suicide. The guy had jumped off a bridge, landed on the street and was hit by a car. The young lady preformed well, but quit the next day. It took her about a year to recover from that, but eventually she went on to become a paramedic and now works for the county.

Bottom line we are in and the adventure starts this Saturday with CPR.

All and all, a very fine and dandy Wednesday.