Last night I cooked dinner for our firehouse and Morristown NJ softball game. Our company won the game, but that's not really what the event was about. It was about participation on a team, and working together for a common goal which is what the fire department is all about.

While I was setting up for the game, I was with the old timers, whom I spend every afternoon with at Station 4. No matter what problem you have, or question you have, the old timers have a good and sometimes funny answer for it. They make me feel so accepted...which is sometimes not the case when a woman in her mid forties joins the volunteer fire department. Yesterday one of them, a former Captain of Fairchild Fire Company, gave me a little statue of a girl firefighter. It was one of the kindest and sweetest gifts I have ever received. Many people try to discourage me, in my family too, from being a firefighter and don't understand why I want to be a firefighter. But these guys encourage me all the time.

Being a firefighter is not only about fighting fires. It's about the spirit of working on a team, and finding acceptance and a sense of family that I don't have right now, except for my husband and children. It makes me feel like I'm not alone in anything. When I'm nervous about something with my daughter and I get worried or scared about my lack of work, I keep in mind that I am a firefighter and then my sense of fear abates drastically.

While I was waiting for the guys and their families to come to dinner, I sat and looked through the books that are at Station 4 of the history of our firehouse from 1929. I saw many of the old timers when they were young, at events, saving people's lives. I thought how now some of them now have trouble breathing, or don't feel so well because of their age, and I marvelled at how strong and powerful they were when they were younger, like my age.

Father's Day is around the corner and my father isn't with me right now. However yesterday when I cooked and served, I thought how my father would have loved to be with me, doing what he did best, cooking and telling stories, and being involved in the firehouse. It has filled a void in me that has been empty for a long time.

If you know anyone who doesn't have much family or needs guidance, suggest to them to join their local volunteer fire department. I am proof that you will find what you need.