THE STORY OF EERON KINNEY
We saw Eeron Kinney's truck at the fire station last night and I remembered that I'd been thinking about blogging this story. I read this story and I get such chills. I watch Ladder 49 and I can't help but context it around my son and my brother. There's a mixture of pride and dred in my heart.
My youngest brother, Andy is at Kilgore Community College training to become a fireman. In a few weeks the classroom part of his training will be completed. Then what? Then he’ll be a fireman. My. little. brother.
The one with the flaming red hair and a heart the size of, well, Texas.
Okay, granted. He’s 19 and a great deal taller than me.
A fireman.
For the life of me, I can think of nothing coherent to say. My heart skips a beat and I really wish I didn’t know all I know about fire fighting.
And then I look at my son.
He’s 9. He became enamored of fire trucks at 3 and the passion has never relented. My Amazon wish list includes more than 30 books about firemen, fire engines, living in fire houses and exploring what fire fighters do. Mind you, these books are on our books-to-buy list because we’ve already borrowed them from the library and we *know* we like them. He remembers the locations of every fire station he’s ever passed by. Coloring and drawing are not his favorite activities unless there are fire trucks involved. Reading…fire and stop, drop and roll were some of the first words that he learned to read. The boy can spot a fire hydrant from miles away. If it happens to be in range, it would take several adults to restrain him from getting to it. We don’t even try any more.
It’s apparent to me that there’s something special there—something inside him that connects. As much as the motherly part of me would like to squish it and have him become a college professor or choose some other relatively safe vocation, I know I can’t.
People tell me “Oh all boys go thru this. It’ll pass.” But they don’t know the depths to which this passion already goes with him. Much like Eeron Kinney, it’s just something built into him.
I love this story of Eeron Kinney. I’m going to print it off and put it in J’s scrapbook.
I can't think of a witty or brilliant way to sum up how I feel about this. I can only hope and pray.
1 comment:
Sarah,
Today Rob left for 3 days of intensive training -- a "live burn" they call it -- at the fire academy in Bell Buckle. It's the last phase in his firefighter training. Did you know he was a volunteer in our community fire dept.?
We watched Ladder 49 last night, and let me just say, that was bad timing!
Leigh Ann
p.s. That's why I'm missing the crop tonight. =(
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