Send all you’ve got

Full disclosure, my wife should be listed as the actual Q for this. She found out about this and sent me the link. I think her email said something like “you and your friends should do this, it sounds like an F3 kind of thing.”

Fours studs and some dude named Whoopee met at the Schiele this am. The plan was to go to Charlotte, meet up with Roscoe briefly, then hit the stairs for 110 flights in memory of the 9/11 first responders who gave the ultimate sacrifice 18 years ago. Roscoe was working this morning.

Admittedly, I was pretty focused on climbing the stairs with an occasional thought of the obvious reason we were there. However this quickly changed when we got there and listened to the opening ceremony speeches. We heard brief speeches from the fire department chief and Roscoe-both of whom did not use notes and spoke from the heart with a great message of welcome to the city of Charlotte and sacrifice by those serving the public now and many years ago-this reeled me in a bit. The clincher was the recording of the radio communication from the first responders when the planes hit the towers. The only part of this I distinctly remember was the operator talking to the fire department/first responders requesting for help-“Send all you’ve got!” in a frantic and very distressed voice. Holy NUTS! This put things a little more into perspective. I was fighting back tears hearing this today-the thought of those people rushing in to save others-when people were jumping out of the buildings to their death, these people-the first responders-were rushing in to help.

We should all remember this every day, but especially around the time of 9/11 each year. When you are having a bad day, when you get a little sandy V at home and don’t want to fold those clothes or empty that dishwasher (you know what I am talking about), when you are just a little tired and feel like fartsacking…..remember, there are MANY others who would trade places with you in a second just for the chance to get back out and post for a workout or go back in time to do something nice for those who they love. Remember.

They do this event each year-we met some others who have done this several years and others like us there for the first time. I can’t tell you how many firefighters were there in full gear, but it was a lot. They struggled, but they did not quit and they pushed through, and they remembered.

Next year I will be there with my ruck and with a shovel flag. I hope you will consider doing this next year also-it was a great event.