I just wanted to say thanks to all for those wonderful and encouraging comments! I am very nervous but I know I can do it. I went to a rescue call with my boyfriend last week and I was talking with one of the firefighters there and he was telling me how he know that I can do it and he is routing for me. He said that it makes it hard for me because of the girls that join just to say that they are a volunteer. And so the department takes it out on every girl just because of those girls. Well I am determined to prove them wrong. I feel as though this is who I am and this is what I am supposed to be doing. And I'm sure that working at 911 will help not only me but the firefighters around me so that I can help them understand the 911 dispatching side of it as well. Just like I can help my fellow dispatchers understand the firefighting side of it. Just as your blood starts pumping when you hear those tones going off...that is how it is when the phone rings in the com center. I have never felt anything like I do for the work I do. I wouldn't trade my job for anything! And ya'll wish me luck with trying to get my first responder!
I just wanted to share something that touched me yesterday:
Every morning at about 6:30 we call one of our fire departments to wake them up for the day. I always do it with a smile on my face because if I am the voice they are waking up to them I want them to wake up with a smile. (and yes you can tell if someone is smiling just by talking to them on the phone). And I think that they know my voice now! Well yesterday when I did my daily wake up calls I started talking to one of the firefighters. Now I consider each of them family because we deal with them everyday. They count on us to look out for them and we count on them to look out for us. While we were talking on the phone he said that he just wanted to thank me for doing what I do. And that he was blessed to have such great dispatchers and that he thanks God everyday for us to be doing what we are doing because without us they wouldn't be able to do their job. I was soo moved. But without even skipping a beat I turned around and thanked him. I told him how blessed we were to have our firefighters. Because even though he said that they wouldn't be ablt to do their job without us...we wouldn't be able to do our job without them. We are a family and we need each other! I told him that we were blessed to have to great firefighters....you are the ones who are brave and go out and save us. Thank you!