05/03/2026
I suspect it is hard to love a first responder. We get up early and don't have time to drink coffee over the newspaper. We come home late and are too tired to cook. We work extra because we know there are families who need us. We don't get too excited over a minor crisis because we deal with issues all day. We have seen far worse. We don't want to talk when we come home; we have talked all day. We don't want to move when we come home; we have moved all day. It may seem that we have left all our caring, our heart, and our love at work, then come home feeling empty. But we don't tell you that many times at work we are scared - scared we're missing something, scared we're failing our loved ones and friends, scared we'll lose ourselves because every day we've seen the worst side of mankind so no one else will have to, scared we'll let our victims and their families down, scared to go into homes of unknown people and scared of what we might find. We have to deal with angry families and all the while do our best to help them. We don't tell you how the trauma we see affects us and how stressed we are for the pain our families are going through. I would like to thank those of you out there who love us, support us, encourage us, and let us do this work, this calling, this life: "These things we do, So that Others May Live!" POLICE, FIRE, EMS, & 911 STRONG.