Burning

I've been putting off talking about this for months, because I wanted to share it for the first time in a state of accomplishment and with lots of cool pictures, but I am feeling suffocated by the idea of doing something totally new with my time and not telling anyone about it. So I'm going to share a tiny bit now, and do a much bigger post with more details later.

Once a week for the past nine weeks, I've been heading down to one of College Station's fire stations in the evenings. The city offers a free 12-week class called Citizen's Fire Academy, and my friend Christina, who is running the class, encouraged me to participate. And ya'll, it is AWESOME. If your city offers something like this, you should definitely do it. 

We were given our own fire gear for the duration of the class, including heavy boots, a helmet and a thick jacket and pants set that are way too big for me. We got to see the dispatch center, where all the emergency calls come in. We get to play with fire extinguishers and ride on the fire trucks and work the hoses and cut open cars with the jaws of life. (No, we don't get to slide down the pole.) At the class' conclusion, we're going to the fire school, and participating in a live burn.*

I have learned SO MUCH. I'm fascinated by the firefighters' work, and having a blast taking the class, but I could never do what they do. (I get freaked out by medical stuff, and every firefighter has to be EMT-certified. They showed us how to insert IVs one night, and I squealed and covered my eyes while they stuck a detached dummy arm. What a pansy.)

There's a CFA graduate that has been at every class taking pictures of all the cool stuff we're doing, and has promised CDs of the photos at the end, so I want to write a bigger, better post once I have the photos. But I just wanted to share now, in case anyone — okay, me — needs a reminder that you don't have to be at a certain point in your life, or have a certain amount of money, or have completed certain goals in order to have big adventures.

*I don't think I'll actually get to do the live burn, because of a scheduling conflict. I was bummed, but Christina told me it was just putting everything else we've done into effect, and that I shouldn't be upset.