I just got back from the monthly FD business meeting. I never thought I could be moved to tears at a business meeting...
A.J. has been wanting to join the FD. We had talked to the chief around Christmas time and he told us to get an application when we were sure A.J. really wanted to do this. A.J. has been driving us nuts the past two months because he really wants to do this. So, tonight DH and I went to the meeting a little early to talk to the chief. We told him that A.J. was ready join but instead of bringing A.J. to the meeting we wanted the chief to talk to the other members and the board of directors first. If anyone had any objections or concerns we wanted them to feel able to voice their concerns without A.J. being there to hear it.
The chief spoke to the board president before he brought it up at the meeting and they both spoke at the meeting. The chief explained that A.J. wanted to join, explained that A.J. would need extra help and asked if anyone had any concerns or any problems with the idea of A.J. joining. No one said anything. Both the board president and the chief said that if anyone did have any concerns they needed to address one of them this week, but I don't think anyone will say anything.
Then the chief said that he just wanted to add a few things above and beyond the FD "business" aspect of this decision. He said that A.J. joining the department would mean that everyone would have to help him out and be willing to train him and give him extra help when needed. Naturally, A.J. will not be put in a position of actual firefighting, at least not for a long while, but he will be a support person and he (the chief) really wants everyone to make an effort to make sure A.J. is part of the commaradere. He said he knows what a great young man A.J. is and he feels that with patienceon the part of the members, A.J. can learn a lot about firefighting and be an important part of the department. And then he said that it was an oppotunity for the firefighters to learn some very valuable lessons from A.J.... about patience, friendship and love!