You must be this tall to ride this fire engine!

I have two friends that are police officers (my college roommates) and another that is a firefighter in St. Paul.  ’little’ has always, since he’s been young, (yes he still is) wanted to be a cop which I totally support and think is great.  We’ve been trying to plan a mini ride along/police department tour and it hasn’t worked out with all of our schedules.  As I was trying to get it together again a few days ago ‘little’ interrupted me and told me he’d rather head to the fire department instead for a tour.  Now this may sound weird but since we’ve been hanging out all the time, and I’ve become so fond of ‘little’, my parental instincts kicks in major and my pride overflows… yes I read in to the situation way to deep.  I immediately think “ALRIGHT!! He’s thinking of his future and how he can start now on reaching his goals!!”  Then he opens up on what’s really going through his mind and outright says “I don’t think they have the poles to slide down at the Police Department… ha ha reality check, he’s 11 years old and I should realize that. I just get so excited and I can’t help it.

Right when we got to the FD the ambulance was just returning from a call. We watched them, lights flashing, back into the garage.  ’little’ was already hooked! My buddy hopped out of the ambulance (he’s 6’4 about 285) and came right over to ‘little’ and greeted him with a firm handshake.  When ‘little’ was asked his name, I’m pretty sure he forgot it for a bit because he couldn’t respond for about 10 seconds. HILARIOUS!!

Fits like a glove!

We went walking in and out of every ambulance and fire engine they had.  We got a fire hose wracking demo, we got to try on very over sized fireman’s jackets, talk to the chief, called into dispatch and had them set off the tones in the station, checked out the living quarters/work out room/kitchen/rec room, and best of all get some majorly great advice!! This was my favorite parts.  Most of the firefighters saw ‘little’ and gave him a wave and a smile, but that was about it.  When we went to talk to one of the veterans on the squad, he immediately warmed up to ‘little’ and starting laying the advice on thick.  ”‘little’ you have to stick around positive people man, you have to strive to be a better person.  Don’t listen to those kunckelheads (verbatum) on the street, cuz they just tryin to drag you down ‘little’.  You don’t need a ton of friends, you just need one… one that thinks like you, is positive and makes you a better person.  I didn’t learn that til I was about 27, you can start now, start early, and be an amazing person.” ‘little’ was awed by the old seer!!

I asked the fireman, with a wink, “how important is it that you do ALL your homework at school? Is that pretty imporant, especially if you want to be a fireman when you grow up”

Without skipping a beat,  ”Knowledge is power ‘little’. People can take away your car, your house, your money… they can’t take away knowledge and that is what homework is all about.  Very important to get that done.  Tell you what, you do all your homework from now until you graduate highschool, then you come and visit me and we’ll have a good talk.”

‘little’ didn’t know what to do with himself, jaw wide open, and a blank stare in his eyes. He was so embarrassed and overwhelmed with all the attention being poured on him. It was a great sight to see.  ha ha  We said goodbye and went to check out the fireman pole.  Turns out you need to be 18 to go down the pole so we got to look down the hole but that was as far as we got.  It was still pretty neat!

The tour was great, ‘little’ was awed, and he is determined, for now, to get all his homework done!

I can’t express how proud I am of him! It was fantastic!