Who's your backer?

Have you ever found it necessary to wedge your vehicle into a parking spot while knowing it was going to be a tough sell to get it back out?  You ran off to your appointment but in the back of your head you knew you had your work cut out for you.

As firefighters, we run into that sort of thing often.  Only we get to park in the choicest spots and we know that we can't back an inch without having a fellow firefighter behind the truck to guide us back out.  Emergencies don't always happen on a 2 lane road with a nice red-colored curb designating our parking spot.

Backing a big rig is an art. You must use your mirrors, you must trust the person instructing you, and you have to pay very close attention to four corners of a 32 foot, 35,000 pound behemoth.  The trick is to keep your eyes on the backer, and not be distracted by your peripheral vision.  The whole success of the mission depends on this.  Take your eyes off your backer for one second and disaster could occur. 

Being the backer is no easy task either.  You have to know and use the proper hand and arm signals, stay in plain view of the left hand mirror, watch overhead and to the sides of the rig, and back up one step at a time while conveying what you see to the driver. It's a bit of a dance for sure.

So the other day, our crew was dispatched to a residential fire in a remote area of our city.  This house was situated on a steep hillside.  The road leading to it had a series of hairpin curves where the hill rose sharply to one side and fell sharply down the other.  Needless to say, just getting to the burning house was a challenge, and not all the fire rigs were able to fit into the long driveway.  So we parked as close as we could, donned the rest of our gear and airpacks, grabbed our extra bottles of air and trudged up the hill for about 1/2 of a mile to the scene.

It was a long firefight made especially treacherous by the terrain.  We were grateful to have neighboring departments come in to help.  When the fire was out, the neighboring crews loaded up their gear and went back to their stations while our crews stayed to mop up the hot spots.  This would take us about 3 hours, so we pulled our rigs in closer so we could use all the equipment.

Long story short, it was soon time to back those big rigs out. My position that day was driver, and I knew it wasn't going to be an easy task.  We had already seen that it took other engine and ladder companies at least 30 minutes to back their vehicles out of this long, winding road that was just wide enough for one fire truck.  The road was so narrow that you couldn't see pavement on either side of your tires as you looked in the side mirrors.  On top of that, on one side of the rig was ditch and then steep hill.  On the other side was tree tops...where the road fell away steeply...yup...major pucker factor.

But I had two things on my side. For one, I had been in similar situations before and knew that this task was possible. Secondly? I trusted my backer.  We had worked many shifts together, had built a relationship, had relied on each other before many times.  I knew she wasn't going to lead me astray.

And so we started.  I watched every move she made and corresponded my actions to her directions.  It took a long time.  It was tough going. I'm sure both of us added a couple of gray hair to our tresses.  But we made it.  We flashed each other big grins and sighs of relief when our rig was safely on terra wida.

We get a choice.  We get to choose those we give power to in our lives. We all have times during which our way is so narrow and windy, we really can't see the path for all those trees. Do you have people in your life that you can trust implicitly to help guide you into the sunshine again?  You should. You could.  You need to cultivate those kinds of relationships.  People need people. Think about who in your life fits that role.

One of the things I noticed about my husband early on was his tremendous giving heart.  We were dating and he told me about a phone call he had gotten the previous night.  A close friend of his had had car trouble 2 hours away and was calling my guy to see if he could come pick him up and take him home.  Wow.  In my mind it takes courage to make a phone call like that.  But my future husband dropped everything (his pillow since it was past midnight....), and drove to pick up his buddy and get him home safely.  He thought nothing of it.  Heart of gold.  He shrugged it off saying that he has had people do the same for him in his time of need.  People need people.

My point is this.  If you are looking for trusted "backers" in your life.  BE a trusted backer.  If you ask Him to, God will send you people that need your talent, skills, heart.  If you follow through and help, you will start to build those relationships that you can rely on when the road gets rough.

As you can imagine, after a short time of dating this man who would stop at nothing to take care of the people he loved, I knew I was safe loving him for the rest of my life.  He's one of my backers.  He's never let me down.  I haven't asked, but I think I'm one of his backers too.  It's a perfect symbiosis. Very rewarding.

So - choose those you give power to, cultivate those close relationships, and then let the free fall begin.  Trust me, you will land safely.

Make it a great day!