Wednesday, November 30, 2011

And so it begins...

I'm a life-long Chicagoan, life-long South-sider, and a life-long Cub fan. I come from a family of Paramedics. When I was a little kid, I thought that being a Paramedic was the coolest thing one could possibly do with one's life, because my Dad was the coolest person I knew and that was what HE did. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought it was pretty cool. My sister and brother are also Paramedics, along with numerous other members of my extended family.

Dad used to tell stories around the dinner table that would have us rolling on the floor in laughter. If you could get my dad and my uncles, also Paramedics, into the same room together, they'd play off of one another like the most experienced comedy trio you've ever seen. They worked together in the early days of EMS in Northern Illinois. They saw a lot of things.

As I got older, the funnier stories were gradually interspersed with the more serious ones. Once I had reached adulthood, I had spent many a night running errands with my father, who by then had moved into administration, him relating war stories from his "time on the street" that focused less on the humorous and more on the deadly serious while I listened in rapt fascination. I don't think Dad was trying to scare me or anything, he just seemed to know that it was appropriate for him to begin sharing the bad along with the good.

Although I had wanted to follow in my father's footsteps since kindergarten, I somehow found myself toiling in the aviation industry for nine years, having brainwashed myself into believing I was happy as a baggage handler. My wife helped me realize just how miserable I was, and with her support, I made my way into EMS. I hope I can be as good of a Paramedic as my sister, brother, and father are. They're my inspiration.

Now it's my turn to share some stories, but as my wife has no particular tolerance for the blood and gore and guts, and my siblings and father have seen it all, and the only kids I have have four legs and eat out of bowls on the floor, I have decided to make my way into blogging. I've been inspired to do so by reading the works of Kelly Grayson,, Justin Schorr (The Happy Medic), Michael Morse (Rescuing Providence), Tom Bouthillet (EMS 12-Lead), Captain Chair Confessions, Rogue Medic, and others. I don't know why I'm identifying each of them so formally. Chances are great that if you're reading this, it's because you read those blogs already. I hope I can live up to their standard, as they've set the bar awfully high.

I hope you'll enjoy what you read here.