It seems that I love my job and my kids, and will sit through detention every Tuesday afternoon, so they build the habits necessary to be successful.
First, though, I enjoyed my weekend thoroughly. I had a lovely homemade pizza date night on Friday, with a little too much wine. Saturday morning was an 11-mile run that hurt a lot more than it should, probably as a result of the pizza and wine. Afterwards, my sore hip was SORE, but felt almost entirely better by school on Monday.
Sunday, though, was my big day. I know I have strange hobbies. One of my favorite activities is providing emergency medical support to major events, and this weekend was one of the biggest gatherings that Philadelphia has ever seen. So big, in fact, that they asked New Jersey for help. Pick me! Pick me!
So, I put on my utility belt and drove down to my ambulance company's headquarters in South Jersey, where I grabbed a partner and an ambulance and headed to a New Jersey shopping mall that was labelled with huge "Staging Area" signs. We met up with about 10 other ambulances, where we signed into the "Papal Visit Ambulance Strike Team NJ 2015" or somesuch and got our snazzy credentials.
We then headed to Philly in an ambulance motorcade, across bridges that were otherwise closed to traffic (and I got my favorite picture of the day), where we got a briefing from their end, got some new radios and a stack of Philadelphia Fire Department paperwork.
Then, we got back on the bridge, and headed to Camden, where we hung out with all sorts of other emergency folks (NJ State Police, Army Reserve, bomb squad, urban search and rescue) in case of any major disaster. There were no major disasters.
Around 3PM, as the Pope was gearing up for Mass, we were taken back into Philadelphia to join another 30-40 ambulance crews, all lined up along the streets near the Pope. We got some snazzy bags of supplies (which included about 8 tourniquets each - what did they think was going to happen?), an oxygen tank, a wheelchair, and a location. At this point, we were close enough to the Pope that we could see the stage where he was standing, but I wasn't interested in pushing through crowds just to say I saw him (really, I was only there for the adventure of EMS logistics). We wheeled on down, about a half mile away, where crowds were still packed solid.
We checked in at the First Aid tent, and were sent to wait just past the entrance security. There were thousands of people packed into barriers, so they could be screened by TSA and metal detectors before coming in close proximity to the Pope.
We waited there for several hours, occasionally wheeling a sweaty, dizzy, nauseous, syncopal person we pulled out of the crowds. We hung out with some Army Reserve and Secret Service folks. We had a blast.
The people were...fascinating. Some folks were shouting at us because they had to wait in line all day. They yelled louder when it became evident that Mass was over, and they would not receive Communion at that time. It seemed like another of the security gates had been closed because too many people were packed into the area, and they sent everyone else away to stand in more lines. So, the obvious solution would be to yell at the guys in the neon yellow EMS shirts, right?
And then there were those trying to calm the others down, or were leading the crowd in religious songs, or helping others escape the crowds when they decided they couldn't wait any more. There were some really great people there.
By about 8:30 PM, were were called back to the First Aid Station, and then the staging area, and then back to our ambulances to sit and wait to demobilize. We handed in our radios, ate some turkey sandwiches, and were each handed a Papal Visit Ambulance Strike Team 2015 token before being led across empty bridges and sent home for the night.
I had a blast.
Unfortunately, though, it was too cloudy when I arrived home to see the blood moon, which was frustrating, because everyone (students and grown ups) asked in school on Monday if I had seen it.
I put my EMT hat away and put back on my teacher hat for the week. The week is going well in my classroom, although students elsewhere in the school have made less-than-stellar decisions, so I've been helping out with that.
Sure, maybe my day job isn't quite as thrilling, and involves fewer flashing lights and blaring sirens, but I know I'm changing the lives of these students who are sitting in detention right now, contorted into all possible forms of slouch, scribbling onto a page for the 9th consecutive hour. They'll get there one day.
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