FireLink

I was at the Ohio Fire Academy a couple of weeks ago for this women's firefighting orientation weekend. Granted, I've done been oriented and trained and fought a few fires in my day, but I brought my best friend there because I figured she would love it if she ever got the opportunity to give it a try. The first night was awesome, we hung out in the Academy's lounge with the state fire marshal, a couple of female chiefs, a bunch of female firefighters, and some girls interested in joining. That night we went up to the dorms, and Weigl from this site (aka Chelsea), myself, and Lauren (my best friend) sat around talking until wayy too late. My friend Vince from fire school called me to see how the weekend was going. At the same time, Lauren's brother called her to brag that he had just met some big record producer at a concert at Ohio University, and Lauren one-up'ed him by explaining that the next morning we'd be doing a big live burn at the academy. He was real excited on the phone for us, and told us to be careful. The following morning we all woke up, threw on some clothes, and headed out to go get our gear. First they showed all of the girls how to don the gear and SCBA, go on air, ect. Then we got split into groups. Lauren, Chelsea, and I all ended up in seperate groups. I went off to the search and rescue maze, and I don't know where the other girls went. We rotated through all of the basics of fire training all morning... S and R, tools, ladders, ect...then all met up in the main building to get ready for lunch. Being that we are girls and cannot live without our cell phones for too long, Lauren and I stopped by her car on the way in to check them. She had at least 15 missed calls from various members of her family, and I had five or six from her dad. In my experience, 22 cumulative missed calls from one family is never good, so I waited outside with her for a minute until she told me to run inside and grab a spot in the lunch line. I got our food, turned my head to the left, and lauren was being walked down the hallway by two of the female firefighters. She was absolutely hysterical, so I dropped our tray, ran over as fast as I could. After catching her breath for a second she finally managed to say "Chris and Kelly are dead." Chris is her brother that we had spoken to just hours before, and Kelly was his girlfriend. I knew Chris better than I know my own older brother, so when she said that we both collapsed. We were taken upstairs to one of the classrooms by two of the instructors. I tried my best to keep it together and try and get us a way home, call all of the appropriate people, ect...but inside I was falling apart. I had dealt with death many times before with people I'm close to, even more times than that with people I don't know, but this has been the absolute worst experience of them all. This only happened two and a half weeks ago, and I've barely seen Lauren upset since. Her family asked me to sit with them in the front row at his funeral, and Lauren actually laughed during one part during a prayer. I've lost twelve pounds and a ton of sleep from all of this, and yet it was her brother, but she acts like she's totally fine. I know she isn't, and I'm just waiting for the day when she collapses and feels the reality of the situation take hold. Problem is, I move to Arizona in a week, and am completely terrified of how she's going to react when I'm not around either. Chris, Lauren and I have been completely attached to one another for the last six years. Losing Chris is killing me, and I know losing both of us has got to effect her eventually. Her family even asked if I could stay a few extra weeks because they're afraid for her too, but there is no way I can. What do you guys do to help people going through tragedies? I know it is easier when you are removed from the situation, but how do you help with something like this?

Well I have no idea how to deal with such a loss, I've never been through this type of situation, but I have a few friends that have. All I can do is say that God has a plan for everyone and everything in this world. I know we don't always want to hear that, but sometimes it is the only piece or hope of life that you can hold on to. Having faith and knowing that everything will work out the way it is supposed to, no matter how horrible the situation might be, can help a person recover. You just have to put your trust in God and know that there was a reason for those losses, and you might not see that reason for a few months, years, or you may never realize or pick up on what the reason was; but somehow, somewhere things have changed to make a difference somewhere in this world. I know it can be hard to hear, my cousin's baby is currently fighting for his life, and his parents may never get to know this wonderful, beautiful little person. But they keep faith that God has a plan, and if it is God's will to let this baby go back to Heaven, they will be devistated, but they will know that God has a reason for it and it will change people's lives. So don't mourne your friend's deaths, but celebrate the time they had on this earth. Celebrate the things that they did with their life, no matter how short a time that might have been. Celebrate and remember the good times you had with them, not just the bad ones. They wouldn't want to be remembered as the teenagers that died too soon in a college dorm, but rememebered as the teenagers that lived life to the fullest and how their faces lit up a crowd, and remembered as a brother, and a sister, and a friend.

I'm sorry I never got the chance to be there for you and Lauryn, by the time I found out what happened you had already been taken upstairs. I am truely sorry for what happened. I just hope that you and Lauryn will be able to move past this tragedy and continue your lives. Not by forgetting them, but by rememebering the good times.

I want to help if a way exists. Check your mailbox.