DANCING WITH FLAMES - Segment 2 (Scroll down for opening segment)


     They also caused me to look back on my own youth.  It was barely visible. I didn’t realize it would be easier spotting the North Star.  I was finally able to bring my youth into focus with a pair of high-powered binoculars.  “Oh, there it is.”…”Wow! That’s way back there…”  Just being able to find it rekindled memories of a glorious childhood.  Then there was my own childhood...

     I hadn’t planned on saying anything here, because I didn’t want you putting me on a pedestal.  But, I, myself, was a firefighter years ago.  In fact, I come from a long line of firefighters.  Well…I don’t know if the line is that long.  It was primarily my cousins and me…who fought fires during our youth.  

     Like most kids, whose dream is to become a firefighter, we felt that bond with fire at an early age.  Of course, learning to fight fires required the use of an actual fire.  You couldn’t fight a fire unless you had a fire to fight.   We figured the best way to learn was to start our own fires.  It just so happened that there were a number of vacant lots and old orchards nearby, with plenty of dry grass that provided the perfect training ground for us to learn our firefighting skills.

     I can still remember my own two legs driving furiously up and down like two well-oiled cylinders, as I attempted to stomp out any remaining fire in the dry grass of a vacant lot.   My cousins and I called it “Dancing with Flames.” 

    

     By the age of ten we had put out more fires than most veteran firefighters.  Any one of us could have qualified as Fire Chief.  Our camaraderie was strengthened by a common bond:  We smelled like smoke.  We thought it was an air freshener. 

   

     Our ability to start a fire led some to believe that just our standing in a vacant lot could cause the entire lot to burst into flames.

     Some of us considered fire a rite of passage from youth to adulthood, although my campfire in a haystack almost caused me to miss the passage to adulthood.  

     During the summer,...

To be continued...check back soon