Remembrance Walk and a Climb

The Olathe Fire Department was well represented this morning. Down in KC, the guys were doing a stair climb. This was the message sent to me from James from his crew today, which totally brought tears to my eyes. These are just the greatest guys in the world.

Meanwhile, back in Omaha, I walked in a Remembrance Walk today. It was pretty hot outside…in the 90’s and humid, but there were lots of opportunities to duck under a tent to paint butterfly ornaments, work on a large butterfly remembrance mural by painting in the colors, or pet a dog up for adoption. There were a couple of friends of mine there walking for the memory of their children. They had their families and friends of their kids with them walking. Unfortunately, Rich is out of town at a hockey tournament and Lily had multiple graduation parties for friends today. I was helping to paint part of the mural and was working on a section with an older woman. We were given buttons of our loved ones, so I had a photo of Joe in his bunker gear. She kept staring at me. I was wondering if I had managed to smear cobalt blue paint across my face. She finally asked me if I had been to one of these Remembrance Walks before. I told her I had not. I then asked her who she was here to honor. Her button was a young girl…under the age of 10 most likely, and in black and white. The woman was in her 70’s maybe. She told me she was here for her daughter, who died in a house fire. She then pointed at my shirt. I told her I was here for my son, Joe, a firefighter. It was just an interesting moment shared. My dear friend, Michele Nagel, joined me with her youngest son to walk. We used to do kickboxing together at the crack of dawn 5 days a week. She wanted to make sure I wasn’t there alone and I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that. She had also lost two little ones over the last few years and so we honored them as well. There were some really thoughtful signs along the way to read. They also handed out beads for different losses. The butterfly release was really nice as well. It was a really nice event to attend, and I am so glad I did. Thanks to Steph for letting me know it was happening and for Michele for driving out to be by my side. FF Joe Messina, OFD badge #446, was well represented today.