I could do nothing but stare and ponder……….

I had some running around to do before the FOOLS meeting last week.  I suppose because I was running from place to place, I didn’t think about what I was doing, just getting things done.  I didn't really think about it until yesterday as I was writing a condolence card to the family of Captain Walter C. Sumner of the Cranesville Volunteer Fire Department in Pennsylvania. Captain Sumner suffered a heart attack and passed away on January 24, 2012.  I hope he rests in peace.

You see, the Southside FOOLS have been writing these condolence cards on behalf of the International FOOLS for several years and it has been my task, my honor, to write these messages of condolence for the past three years.  As Billy G. says, “the beat goes on” and I continue to write, often through my tears.

I finished writing the card and opened the new box of envelopes that I had picked-up last week before the FOOLS meeting.  I could do nothing but stare at the full box of 250 envelopes and ponder.  It feels like just yesterday that I opened the last box of 250 cards and envelopes, all of those firefighters lost it seems, in the blink of an eye.  I hope this box stays full, foolish I know. The reality is, each one of these envelopes represents a future Line Of Duty Death and it breaks my heart to ponder that unfortunate truth.