September 11....(eleven years later)

I'm sitting here in Queens, NY in our office with the windows wide open and the breeze blowing in.  I hear the trains and traffic going by and I hear people in the lot next door talking and laughing.  This is the first September 11th that I have worked since I was sent home from work on September 11, 2001 and told by my boss that she was paying me for the rest of the day because they might need me at the fire house.  The events that day and the months that followed were bizarre, surreal, and I'm not sure I ever really got over it.

Today's weather is exactly the same as it was in 2001....it's even a Tuesday.  Every year I take September 11th off from work and spend the day at the fire house.  The place we all gravitated to as the events in 2001 were unfolding.  We prayed, stared at the TV and monitored the scanners.  We talked and stood around in a state of shock.  We didn't truly know what was really going on with our brother and sister firefighters and EMT's until we started getting phone calls about people we knew who were working.  Some people hadn't heard from them since before the planes hit the towers.  Guys were MISSING.  It was a little scary.

We prepped the trucks and the ambulance in case we were needed to assist anyone, anywhere.  We sat around....no one wanted to leave and go home.  Our families didn't really understand what we were feeling.  My ambulance responded to a ferry terminal and assembled with several other ambulances to remove and transport some of the more minor aided to our local hospitals as the city ones were becoming overwhelmed with wounded.  I don't know what time we got back to the firehouse but I then received word that two guys from a neighboring fire department who were both working that day were missing.  So I went with some people over to their firehouse and a few days later was involved in a prayer meeting as we held out hope that they'd still be alive.

But they weren't.
I went to many, many funerals, wakes and vigils that year and the next for brothers who died in the line of duty.
I know many others who survived the response that day but who are now sick with lung issues, cancer, are battling PTSD, or have since passed on.

I think about how we are all tied together because of what we do.  Firefighting and EMS is our calling.  I personally wouldn't have it any other way.  It doesn't matter if you didn't know someone who died that day, we are all brothers and sisters in service.  It's not just today that I think about my friends who perished doing one of the things that they lived for.  It's every time I get on a rig, every time I head off to work and bandage someone up, every time I see a skyscraper or airplane, every time I push that siren button as I sit in the front seat of that ambulance and head off to a call.  I take comfort in the fact that they SAVED people from dying that day.  People are alive today because of my brothers and sisters who put civilians lives before their own and for that I am very proud of them.

It's a daily struggle for me to understand why people want to cause trouble for others, to try to injure and kill each other.  Especially people they don't know.  Every assault victim I see and every news report I hear makes me even more determined to try to make a positive difference.  The gods gave me the power to help people and I try to do the best I can while I make my way in this world.  I get into the back of that ambulance and I hold the hand of the elderly woman who fell and cut her head and needs stitches.  I take a minute to reassure the husband of a patient that his wife of 60 years is going to be alright.  I hold a child who has had a febrile seizure and explain to his sobbing mother that what happened is perfectly normal and he will be fine.  I try to make a little difference wherever I can.

I have been serving for the last 13 years and D for the last 18.  I hope that when we have children they will get the service bug in them too and continue the work that we have started. I serve in the memory of my friends who have died in the line of duty and the friends that I have made since I have been part of this thing that is bigger than I am,  it's bigger than all of us.

Rest in Peace guys.  Just know that we won't ever forget you.

343 on 9/11/01
To TL, GH, PL- R.I.P
To my sick friends:  Keep fighting!

Summer is over?

Sorry about my lack of postings lately folks.  This summer has been very eventful for Teddy, D, and I so there hasn't been much time for writing.  Hell I haven't had much time for reading either!  You know things are seriously busy when I don't have time to read.

D and I drove to Maryland to see sister S and brother in law J last weekend.  It was a very fun trip down and we had a great time goofing off in Walmart (I saw a Mennonite woman and her kids!), eating at Sonic for the very first time (that place is super fun)!  We made friends with the people in the mini van next to us when I got out of the car to take pics of D and sister S.  The folks in the car on the other side of us asked about the ferret bumper sticker I have on my car.

I told them about Sir Teddy the awesome and showed them a picture.  They complimented him on his good looks! :)  I'm a proud mama!


I'd have to say the craziest part of the trip was the drive back home.

We stopped at Antietam to see the sites and after the cannon firing demo we got caught in the worst rain storm EVER.  Downpours.....everywhere!

Poor D drove us halfway through Pennsylvania before we got ahead of it and were able to stop and take a break.  Took about 8 hours to get home after we stopped at the PA Dutch gift shop, Cabela's (bought a weather radio), and Applebee's (for dinner), and the Vince Lombardi service area in NJ for fuel (it's cheap).

Boy was Teddy glad to see us when we got home!  :)



Signing off 17:41

Teddy Speaks

Hi everyone!  It's Teddy!  After my introduction blog Mommy said I was a pretty good writer.  She helped me sign up for my very own email address and my own Facebook page!!  I now have my own handle here on blogger so I can post blogs on Mommy's blog.  I just wanted to post my info on here so if anyone wants to be my friend they can find me!

My email address is teddy12912@gmail.com

My Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/TeddyTheWonderFerret

Hope to see you all soon...I'm going to take a nap!

Love and kisses

Teddy

Happy 4th of July!

I just wanted to wish everyone a 


Happy 4th of July!!!

Hi!!!! My name is Teddy!

THIS is Teddy!

Hello! My name is Teddy! I am a 4 month old white marked ferret.  My birthday is January 29, 2012.  I weigh around 2 pounds but mommy calls me "chubs" :D

 I live with my mommy and daddy in our little gray house.  Inside our house I have a huge cage that my mommy and daddy bought me and I love it!

I have a hammock and a sleeping bag in my cage and they are very soft and comfortable.  I spend my days hanging out in my cage while mommy sleeps after work.  Nights are spent running around the living room playing with my bell balls, chew rope and plastic rollie tube.  I also like to wrestle with my daddy and sneak around trying to scare mommy and daddy by jumping out from under the couch!

My daddy told me I was born in upstate New York on the Marshall farm where they raise ferrets.  After I was big enough they sent me to a pet store to live with other ferrets and to wait for someone to take me home.  I remember the day that my mommy and daddy came into the store.  Mommy came over to the cage and started talking to me and waving at me.  I went over to the wall of the cage because I wanted to get a better look at her.  They walked away and I started to eat because I was hungry.  A little while later my mommy came back and told my daddy that she wanted to see me.  The pet store man came over and opened the cage and picked me up.  I heard daddy talking to the pet store man about me and then mommy said she wanted me.  Daddy said the cage wasn't set up yet but mommy said she didn't care.  She said I was the one.  The pet store man took me from daddy and put me in a small cardboard box.  I was scared!  I wanted to go back to my big cage!

Daddy opened the top of the box and it was very bright out.  We weren't in the store anymore!  Mommy said we were in the car and they were taking me home!  I was scared again but they were very nice...talking to me and petting me.  When we got home they closed the box and left me in it for awhile.  I tried to get out but I couldn't.  I guess I'm still too small!  Later on daddy took me out of the box and put me in the sink to give me a bath.  I didn't like that too much so I played with the drain cover in the sink and then tried to get away from them when they took me out of the sink because I was cold!!

After I was dried off they put me in the living room with some toys.  I didn't want the toys but I did want to look around and see where I was.  I ran around for a little bit and explored.  The cage they put me in after it got dark was nice but I didn't like it because it was too small.  I heard Daddy say that I would be getting a new cage in the morning so I settled down and went to sleep.

The next day we went to the pet store (I went too in my new carrier!) and got me a new cage.  Daddy calls it my mansion!  It's HUGE!!  4 floors, a hammock, sleeping bag, 3 ramps, 2 potties, food dish and water bottle.  I have tons of toys too!  One of them is a ball that makes noises.  It dooks and meows and says doo doo doo doo doo!  My favorite toy is the one on the stick that has hair on it.
Mommy says I have to go to bed now so I will write more again another time.  I will have mommy put some more pictures of me so you can see how little and cute I am!  She says I have a whole album on her facebook page (she always has the camera in my face!).  Goodnight!!

Adventures In Wisconsin!

We returned yesterday from our vacation in the very cool state of Wisconsin.  So I figured why not write a blog about it! :-)

We left on May 31 and drove up to D's parent's house in Connecticut and crashed there over night.  We had lunch the next day with Joe and Darryl and then headed up to the airport.

I was so excited because this was my FIRST FLIGHT! EVER!! (I never go anywhere exciting).  We hung around the airport after going through security for awhile (what a pain in the ass trying to explain to them that I wanted them to HAND SCREEN my epi-pens instead of putting them thru the x-ray machine) and then boarded our flight.

Awesome clouds

  I took a bunch of cool pictures from the plane of the clouds and the ground once they told us it was safe to use our electronic devices.


I don't know if we are technically allowed to do that, but the sights outside of the window were just too cool to not photograph.  I even turned off the shutter sound so I wouldn't bother anyone. I'm so nice! :-)

Everything looks so small!

Smoking permitted???

 After landing in Kentucky (another state I'd never been to) to catch our connecting flight (had to wait 90 minutes) we grabbed some food and  noticed this sign:

 I stopped and did a double take!  They don't allow smoking inside ANYWHERE in New York and I was shocked when I saw this!  When we were kids I remember my grandma smoking in restaurants and stuff but that was before the bad effects of second hand smoke were really understood. Anyway I had to take a shot of it and here it is for all to see.

We finally boarded the second flight and in about an hour we touched down in Madison, Wisconsin.  It was fairly late there (22:00 hrs or so) and the airport was very quiet (kind of creepy).  We got our rental car and headed the hour away to Wisconsin Dells and our hotel.

Kilbourn FD

The next day we attended D's brother's graduation where I met his sisters, nieces, and nephew and then had lunch and went swimming at the hotel.  Later that night we walked into town and did some sightseeing and I took LOTS of pictures.

This is the local fire department (the town used to be called Kilbourn.)  They changed the name of the town but not the fire department. 

View from the river walk

The next three pictures are from the river walk we took in town.  It follows the river down to this big bridge.  The views are incredible!  We even saw a freight train go over the overpass by the dam.  It was so noisy!  It had about 70 cars pulled by 4 engines and I had to stand and watch the whole thing go by.

Foot bridge going over a drainage line

  We played adventure mini golf and had dinner at this groovy Mexican place called Pedro's.  (by the way they have awesome margaritas)  There is a 3 pound burrito on the menu and if you can finish it in one sitting they will take your picture and hang it up on their wall of fame.  A large party came in to the restaurant while we were eating and this tall, skinny guy ordered the 3 pounder!  He was half way through it when we left to go back to the hotel.  I couldn't see him finishing it....he looked like he was in pain already!

We are kind of lame and seemed to get to bed every night by midnight....I figured we could a least stay out late ONCE but by the time it got late we were both exhausted!  I think it's because we were doing so much walking and everything.

We did actually go out to Walmart at 02:00 hrs the first night we stayed in Wisconsin.  I had a reaction to the bedsheets (probably the soap they used) and started getting hives.  There is a 24 hr Walmart just 5 minutes up the freeway so poor D had to get up and take me there to get a pair of sweat pants and some benadryl.  I bought him a cool looking camo baseball hat with a W on it to try to make it up to him.  (sorry again babe).   So I guess that counts as staying up late even though I had to wake him up to take me there?

View of the Wisconsin River from the road bridge

I love margaritas!

D went on those!

 We got free passes from the hotel to go to Chula Vista's water park.  It's an indoor/outdoor water park and it's HUGE.  They have water slides, a man made beach (chairs on sand for sunbathing), a whole shallow park for the kids, and the coolest attraction.....the action river!  We rode the action river 5 or 6 times.  It's a long river that makes a big oval around the kid's area.  It has waterfalls and fountains and at the end it had a section which has huge ocean like waves.  You sit on a plastic tube and float down the river.  I'm not much for water slides but the action river was a ton of fun!  D went on several water slides...including one outside that had a crazy drop off (I couldn't watch) and another that started inside, went outside and ended inside.  He managed to coax me on a water slide (it was for kids actually) and I went down it just to shut him up! :-)

2 of the Ducks

DAM!

We took a tour on the Wisconsin Ducks.  They are amphibious military vehicles from the 1940's that drive through the forest and then into the Wisconsin River.  They tell you about the history of the area and show you the sites.  We saw amazing rock walls and formations, forests and I got a picture of the dam.  When our tour guide splashed down into the water above the dam we all got soaked!  It was fine though because it was actually a very warm day.


Later on D and I met his sister, niece and nephew for dinner and then went to the Tommy Bartlett show.  It's a water/air/stage show that has been running for the last 60 years.  They had water skiing, boats racing and jumping over ramps.  They had acrobats, jugglers, a clown, a gorilla and a guy that told very bad jokes!  It was fun.  D's niece climbed up on my lap and sat there for most of the show.  She is 4 and would get so excited when she saw the water skiiers and the clown chasing the gorilla!

We spent the last day of our trip doing more sight seeing and shopping for things to bring home with us.  I took the above picture because I freaking love cows!  They all looked at me when I got out of the car to photograph them.  D sat in the car shaking his head and laughing when I said hi to them and waved.  How do we know they can't understand us?  I was taking their picture...the least I could do was say hi!  they stood still for me till I got back in the car and then they wandered away.  I even thanked them for letting me capture them on film.  I think D thinks I am crazy.....

Our flights home took us to Detroit, Michigan (another state I'd never been to!) and then we had to run to catch our connection back to Connecticut.  Our plane into Detroit was late so we had 15 minutes to run from Terminal C to Terminal A!  I hate that airport!  My knee decided to give out mid dash so we stopped at one of the desks and they called our desk to tell them we were indeed on the way.  We made it with 5 minutes to spare!

We landed in Winsor Locks about 10:00 and stopped for dinner on the way back to Derek's parents where we crashed for the night.  Our arrival at home was around 17:00 hrs on Tuesday.  D and I crashed on the couch for a few hours and then we went out to get sushi for dinner  because there was no way in hell I was cooking!

I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures in Wisconsin!

Signing off 01:27

Bone Marrow Registry

Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells.

Leukemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases. In turn, it is part of the even broader group of diseases affecting the blood, bone marrow, and lymphoid system, which are all known as hematological neoplasms.

DKMS Americas is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization founded in 2004 and based in New York, NY that recruits volunteer bone marrow donors of all races and ethnicities to help leukemia patients in need of a bone marrow transplant. DKMS Americas was co-founded by Katharina Harf and her father Peter Harf. It is the US offshoot of DKMS (Germany), formed to help leukemia patients in need of bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants.

You may be wondering what this all has to do with me (and you).  Well, first of all I want to credit Wikipedia for the 3 definitions above.  Now I will explain what is going on.

I received my bone marrow donor registry card today in the mail.  I became inspired to register after a friend of mine donated his bone marrow and recounted the experience for me.  So I fired up google and was directed to the DKMS website.  After reading through all of the information and doing a bit of independent research on the subject I decided to see if I could even BE a donor (given my medical history).
The following info is straight from the DKMS website:

Potential donors MUST:

• Be between the ages of 18 and 55
• Be in good general health
• Weigh more than 110 lbs but not exceed a BMI 40
• Not be HIV positive or have been diagnosed with AIDS
• Not have had heart surgery or have heart disease
• Not have autoimmune disorders such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis or fibromyalgia
• Not have sleep apnea, breathing problems or severe asthma (daily inhalers are acceptable)
• Not have diabetes requiring insulin (or injectible medication)
• Not have hepatitis B or C
• Not have kidney or liver disease
• Not have had a stroke (including a TIA)
• Not have chronic or severe neck or back problems
• Not have had uncontrolled epilepsy and not have had any seizures in the past year
• Not have a history of blood clotting or a bleeding disorder
• Not have a personal history of cancer (melanoma, breast, bladder and cervical cancer [stage 0, in situ] and cured localized skin cancer [basal cell or squamous cell] are acceptable)

Well there was my answer. Yup! I am OK to be a donor!  I sent for the swab kit and waited.

About a week later I received my swab kit and after reading the directions I pondered if I really wanted to go ahead and register.  I talked it over with D and made the decision to go ahead with it.
The directions were very easy (you just have to swab with inside of your cheeks with these big Q-tip things) and wait for them to dry.  Then place them in the envelope and mail them.  That was about 6 or so weeks ago.  I had actually forgotten about sending them in when I opened the mail today and saw my card.  I'm actually very excited. :)

I know the chances of me actually getting called to donate are pretty slim. But if there is even the remote chance that I could someday help save someone's life it's worth me taking the 5 minutes to swab my cheeks and get on the registry.  You never know.  I am already on the NY State organ donor registry and I give blood as often as I can so I guess the bone marrow donor registry was the next logical step.

I encourage everyone who can to check out the site and contemplate registering.  You can access the site through the link above or there is a counter on my home page you can click that will take you right through.

Just think about it....you could possible help save a life one day.

I registered.....are you next?

Signing off 03:08