Responding…

This morning I made a quick coffee cake and ham, egg, and cheese cups for Sunday breakfast. Nothing fancy for Father’s Day, just things Marty likes, namely coffee cake. The egg cups were for me. 

While I was making the coffee cake, I could hear Marty’s phone making notifications sounds. That sound is Facebook messenger…he was wheeling and dealing again on Facebook Marketplace. 

He came into the kitchen right after I put the cake into the oven and announced he made a purchase. No shit, did I call it or what?

I think I asked, “Oh God, what is it? How much did it cost?” That’s my standard question when he buys something. 

“It’s an activity for us.” “Oh no, I don’t like activities and games,” I told him. I hate playing anything with him because we are so competitive. He plays to win, and he’s a sore winner if that makes sense to anyone. 

“What is it?” I couldn’t even imagine what was going to come out of his mouth. “An electronic dartboard from Germany. Never used. It keeps score, and the whole thing is in German.” 

Whew, that wasn’t so bad. It was only $20 bucks. He reminded me that I like to play darts; ok, at a bar while drinking, I never played at home for fun before. 

After we ate breakfast, we quickly got dressed and headed to Dorset, VT, to pick up the dartboard. 

Afterward, we stopped at the Dorset Farmers Market and walked around playing tourists. We got to talk to a few vendors we know and checked out the market. 

On our way home, a rescue tone went out. When Marty heard it, he turned on his lights and sirens and stepped on the gas. When I say lights and sirens, I mean it; his huge truck has a lot of them. 

The crew needed an advanced EMT for the call and it appeared no one else was available.

I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. As we started coming up on cars in front of us, they didn’t pull over right away. It took some cars quite a while before they pulled over. One car actually passed a car that did pull over and sped up….until Marty hit every horn and light on his truck.

What was really scary was when the cars pulled over partially, and we had to go around the car with oncoming traffic headed straight towards us. It made me gasp every time.

That’s how it was the whole way from Manchester to Lake Shaftsbury. I kept my eyes covered, broke out in a sweat, and was a nervous wreck by the time we got to the park. Marty arrived at the scene just 2 minutes behind the crew. 

I drove Marty’s truck home since he was in the ambulance with his patient heading down to the hospital. I came inside and laid down on the couch to literally chill out.

I knew before this ride I would never be a candidate to run on a rescue squad since I can’t even look at an eyelash in someone’s eye. Now I know I’d have agita responding to every call. 

Sam was awake (he works overnights and sleeps during the day) when I got back. I told him about my first rescue squad ride. He said it happens all the time. People don’t move over. People don’t care. I was stunned that it happens all the time. To him, it was the norm, and he’s responded to hundreds of rescue calls. 

If the same people who didn’t pull over right away had a friend or loved one that was hurt, sick, or dying, they would want the ambulance to get there as soon as possible….right? Ugh. 

This bothers me that my son and husband, their rescue partners, and everyone else in EMS risk their own lives to save others, and people can’t pull the fuck over? 

When Marty got home from the call, he and Sam had a big laugh at what a nervous wreck I was. So now I will be nervous whenever they respond to a call…because this is what they experience every time they go on a call. Yikes!

Thank you to all the EMS firefighters and rescue folks out there; stay safe. People need to pay more attention while driving and pull over as quickly and safely as possible. 🙏🏼