Keep It Together

I was no older than eleven the first time I got CPR/Basic First Aid training.  It was part of a baby-sitting-certification class I'd been eagerly anticipating.  It was the first step in a lifetime of keeping-myself-prepared for emergencies.

...that's not creepy at all...

I went on to be a lifeguard in high school, which obviously required even more training, and the "re-upping" of my various certifications every two years (or even more frequently, if you were me and paranoid about keeping your skills sharp) (I took my job very seriously).

The truth is I'm still fascinated by emergency medicine.  I love reading about the technological advances (you want scifi?  Read up on battlefield medicine, my friend.) Part of me would dearly love to become an EMT, or even a paramedic, but then I have a long, hard conversation with myself about the realities of those jobs, and I have to confess that I'm happy with the low-stress, relatively-well-paying job I have.  Although I suppose that wouldn't keep me from just getting my EMT certification, if I'm serious about it.  Because the truth is, I like being the calm, level-headed one in a crisis, who keeps her shit together and gets other people through it.  I think it's a gift that is due partially to my own nature, but more to my mother's nurturing (she trained to be a nurse, and it definitely comes through in her parenting).  It's something not everybody can do, and in a way I feel like I have a duty to be as prepared as possible.

Which is why I was at the Source this morning, getting my refresher on (man, that muscle-memory just kicks right in, even a decade later) and while I'll be at the next wilderness first aid class when it's offered.  And hell... maybe I'll even enroll at Clark College and put my money where my mouth is re: the whole EMT thing.  After all, what good is a relatively-well-paying job if I don't do something good with the proceeds?