“Pack for 10 days”

That’s what they told my husband when they gave him a call this past Friday. You see, my husband volunteered to be on the emergency response team for Lowe’s because… Well, he’s been a volunteer his whole adult life. From the moment he turned 16, he was a junior volunteer fireman for the Salisbury Mills Fire Company in a small hamlet of New York, EMT certified, and a member of the Civil Air Patrol Catskill Mountain Group.

Here’s his SMFC helmet!

And here’s another view of his helmet. See the chips on the top of it? I believe he got those from falling off the truck and landing on his coconut. No worries though. He’s Irish and has a very thick skull. LOL



And no, he didn't fall off the truck because of this! [image source]

Hurricane Season

In Florida, hurricane season is officially from June 1 to November 30. Police, dispatchers, and firefighters are pretty much on call for emergency situations especially related to weather. In fact, the local dispatcher's building and police station is built to withstand Category 5 winds with generators to keep them up and running no matter the weather. Being surrounded by water on 3 sides, Florida tends to be vulnerable to weather, especially hurricanes. Evacuation routes are clearly marked and the emergency broadcast system is constantly tested.

Hurricane Matthew

Weather geeks began tracking Matthew on September 28 where it really began to form in St. Lucia, just north and east of Venezuela; it’s track headed north, hitting Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas very hard with Category 5 winds and pummeling rain, and it became apparent that Hurricane Matthew was going to side-swipe the United States, forecasting the hardest hit states to be Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

See the clickable storm track here

With over 1,000 people dead in Haiti, they are beginning to have mass burials of their dead because fear of a cholera outbreak and other diseases. U.S. death tolls are at 27 and climbing between five states.

A history of being deployed to disaster areas

Pat served in the United States Air Force from 1990-1995. Being a motorhead throughout high school, plus his volunteer experience advanced him through tech school where he was assigned to a mobility fire and rescue unit and doubled as a diesel mechanic.

I do love a man in uniform!

Ironic that he joined the USAF to stay out of war and found himself deployed to a bunch of front line activity with a bright fluorescent yellow fire truck, often being shot at in the middle of a desert highway that was being used as an emergency landing strip for our troops.

But I digress.

He was part of the humanitarian effort after the devastating tsunami that leveled Indonesia in 1992 and he was deployed to parts of the American south after Hurricane Andrew. Let’s just say he’s seen more than his share of devastation and death…and those are only the places I’m allowed to talk about.

Nothing to give but ourselves

He had a flurry of phone calls and text messages on Thursday (Oct. 6). “Pack for ten days. You’ll get more information on Friday.”

He forewarned me that this might happen. And because of his volunteer and military experience, he suspects that he was placed on the emergency teams for the harder hit parts of northern Florida with a slight possibility of being pushed north to the Carolinas - which is yet to be determined.

His job is basically to help clean up, set up, restock, and man the floors while the local employees tend to their homes and families without fear of losing their job.

His team has been working 12-16 hour shifts trying to make the store accessible to their local community as fast as possible.

He thought I might be angry because he has a tendency to put himself in harm’s way to help others. I’ve seen him run into burning buildings, defer traffic at accident scenes, and give first aid to people before the first responders arrive on scene. He said he could back out of the team if it was too much of a hardship.

First of all, how could I possibly be angry when helping others is in his DNA?

And secondly, I told him if it felt like this was the right thing to do then everything else will fall into place. We've got nothing else to give but our will, skill, and desire to help.

Less about himself and more about me

Before he left on Saturday morning, he was more concerned about leaving me. We’re literally between pay cycles and don’t have an extra penny to spare. I’m always stocked up on ramen, rice and eggs so I won't eat great but I'm not starving either. We had done some basic storm shopping, prepping in the off-chance that we'd lose electricity for a day - which we never did.

My concern was more for him! What's he walking in to? Where is he going? Will he be fed? Is he going to be put up in a room or will they be tenting it? And without even a dollar in his pocket (because we just don't have it), I drove him to the landing zone where he would meet his other emergency response team members. There we said our good-byes, and I could still see the worry in his eyes – not for himself, but for me.

I had to assure him. There’s enough gas in the car. There’s enough food in the cupboards. We’re high and dry.

And every penny earned that I’ve been able to scrape together from Steemit has been going right to him so my big man can have a beer or two at the end of the day.

Of course I miss his hugs and kisses. I could have used the warmth of his body as the chilled air had me snuggled deep under the covers this morning. But even without a pot to piss in as I keep an eye on the last roll of toilet paper, I will keep assuring him that everything’s okay because he’s helping others in far worse conditions than me.

And that’s something that I love and admire about him.

He's my hero and he inspires me to be a better person.

HAHA! Yup, that's my man sportin' a six pack...and now it's on the blockchain! ROFLMAO

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This piece is written for #project-positivity Week 3 challenge: To do and write about charitable or humanitarian gestures.

Read the guidelines for this week’s challenge here

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