Yoga and Fire Fighting Tales from Rural Maine: I did it!!!

On the first Wednesday in May of 2013, I was voted in as the newest member of the all-volunteer Orland Fire Department. I was lonely, frightened, sick, sad and suffering from PTSD. I was so frightened all the time that I struggled to leave my house. 

The notion that I could ever ascend to the ranks of interior firefighter seemed about as likely as my landing on Mars. For the first two years, I had to serve side-by-side with the woman responsible for my trauma. But I never quit. And then she left. And in the year that followed, I blossomed. Removed from the stress of that trauma trigger, I completed my EVOC training (which means I can drive fire trucks) and then I went on to tackle the vigorous, intense interior fire fighter training at the Hancock County Fire Academy. That training has beaten the crap out of me. And I still have three training weekends to go before I graduate from the Academy, but last night (almost three years to the day that I began this journey) my Chief told me that Marcus and I have now completed the minimum requirements for our department. 

No matter what happens from here on out, I am an interior certified fire fighter with the Orland Fire Department!! So put that in your pipe and smoke it! (But then dispose of your smoking materials safely.) :-)

I totally DID it!!! Namaste. (And thank you for believing in me.)

Photo courtesy of the Ellsworth American.