Today is our 9th wedding anniversary, and with any luck we will be taking our children to a nice restaurant for a fine dinner. We will be celebrating nine years together, a high school graduation for our daughter and a new beginning for our son. I say “with any luck” because in the emergency services, one’s plans often get interrupted by the insistent beeping of a pager.

Three times over the last nine years, on this date I have been involved in the misfortune of others. In 2002 we were called to check on an elderly man who had apparently passed away in his car. He liked to go for a ride in the car with his wife driving; this time she thought he had just fallen asleep on the way home. He wasn’t sleeping. After we got done with the paperwork, I went home so I could finish cooking a “special dinner” we had planned.

In 2005, I responded as Deputy EMS Coordinator to a wreck on one of the major highways in the area. I arrived on scene just in time to assist with covering the body of one of the deceased victims, where she lay in the roadway. Once I could clear the scene, I raced back home to pick up my ever-patient spouse so we could go out to dinner.

Last year was the worst.

We had a rather peaceful and enjoyable day and evening. Just after 10 PM one of our neighboring departments was toned out for a crash, SUV versus tractor trailer. I immediately put on my DC hat and headed for the scene, however before I was halfway there our department was called mutual aid to assist in extinguishing the massive fire that had engulfed both vehicles. By the time I arrived on scene, the fire was knocked down enough to confirm our worst fears – five people were still inside the ruins of the SUV. After a short time we had information that the five were teenage girls, just graduated from high school who had been on their way to a fun week at a family cottage.

Four of their friends were following them in another car, and had witnessed the accident. They were now hysterical in the back of the first due ambulance. The truck driver had been led away from the scene by the arm, stumbling along in a state of shock. As soon as the fire was out we sent our younger and less experienced members back to the fire house, to shield them from what lay ahead.

The next several hours were – and remain – a nightmare to all who were on scene. At some point my wife appeared; she had responded with our ambulance as a third-in rig to establish a rehab sector for the extrication crews. We hugged frequently and resolved to spend our NEXT anniversary – this one, now – far away from pager range.

Once the police had completed their investigation, and we were done assisting our neighbors with the grim tasks that needed to be done, we returned to our fire house to unwind and talk. Not long after sunrise, I went home for a few much-needed hugs from my daughter, then a couple of hours of sleep before calling in sick at work. Over the next few days people would drop by at work to check up on me, to chat and to thank me “for doing what I do.” For the first few days the flashbacks were vivid and totally unpredictable, but in time they subsided.

So here we are, one year later, with slightly different plans than we had envisioned last year. But that’s okay; last year we didn’t know our daughter’s graduation was the next day, or that our son was going to be moving to another city. We have to adapt to life’s changes and take them as they come. We try to constantly remember that every day together is a gift.

This year we will get a bit more celebrating in, come what may. We will try to remember the fabulous activities of June 26, 1999. We have a video that we can sit and watch, and re-live that wonderful day.

Try as we might to forget, we will also remember the terrible evening of June 26, 2007, and the tragic accident that took five young lives, and permanently changed hundreds of others.

(Footnote: Last night -Wednesday the 25th - we went to a “big one” - three barns on fire - over in Livingston County. Eleven fire companies from three counties at the scene, and many more covering empty fire houses. Hopefully, that’s it for a while!)

For those who might be interested in learning about the wonderful young ladies who perished a year ago tonight, follow this link: http://www.mpnnow.com/crash