Guest poster - Will Wyatt

And a Paycheck, Too!

By Will Wyatt

http://www.andapaychecktoo.com/

    

      

    I am always thrilled to share my book with new audiences. I have been in the fire service for over 25 years. My friends and co-workers have told me for years I should write a book. When I finally accepted the challenge I knew I didn’t want to write a story book on one time I did this and one time I did that. I didn’t want to write a text book on fire tactics and procedures. I wanted to write a book that the average person in the community could read and perhaps get a new outlook on the people who protect their community. The next time they pull over and allow an emergency vehicle to pass maybe they might stop and think of what fire fighters really do. A book that a person who has no knowledge of the fire service could relate to.

     It’s fun, fear, humor and horror, usually all in one day. I make the point in the book the average fire fighter sees as much death as a mortician. We see death in all forms. The young, old, murder, suicide and just being at the wrong place at the wrong time routinely. When I was young I always just brushed it off as seeing another dead person. After I had children I began to change. Post children when I gazed at a lifeless person I realized this at one time was somebody’s child or this was somebody’s mother. A person having a good day was about to get a phone call or a knock on the door that a loved one was gone.

Excerpt:

People die of natural causes just about anyplace and anytime. I have seen people who have died in bed, in cars, on the floor, and on the toilet. When the end comes, it is pretty sudden. I saw a gentleman in a recliner one night with the foot rest extended with his feet crossed, one hand on top of the other, his head gently laying back on the head cushion and dead. Just like he was napping and somebody flipped a switch. I always wonder if anything was different about their last day.

When a person falls to the ground in front of loved ones, that is a very traumatic and significant benchmark in a family’s history. A mother, father, grandparent, husband, wife, or child has just died. A person you came into the world with and that you always thought would be with you forever. Subconsciously you know that can’t really be true, but most people refuse to think of it in any other terms. A person from whom you first learned about trust and understanding, among a lot of other traits, has just taken their last breath in front of you.

     If this wasn’t bad enough, you look up and here we come. An ambulance and fire truck pull up to your house and we all storm inside. We move furniture, lay the person on the floor, begin mashing on their chest, and a whole variety of activities

     I’m on Face Book and my e-mail is andapaycheck2@aol.com. Let me hear from you.