A New Fire Helmet for Benjamin

This is Benjamin. He loves to dance. No, no, wait. That's not right. He doesn't love to dance. He loves to dance. He dances in the morning. He dances at night. He'll boogie in his jammies. He'll boogie in his birthday suit. Sometimes he sings while he's moving. Sometimes he shouts. Nobody knows just exactly when the mood will strike him, but at least once a day Ben winds up and start his hand-clapping, foot-stamping, spinning, wiggling, dancing good time. His most inspired dancing comes when he places his fire helmet atop his head and puts a microphone in his hand. The fire helmet came from some very friendly firemen that he met a while back. And for some reason or another it made Benjamin's body move and groove. Sadly one day his mama tripped over his beloved helmet, stepping on it and cracking it in several places. Every time Benjamin got the urge to boogie woogie, he zipped over to his toy box to grab his helmet only to find that it was indeed still broken in several places. So he would dance without his fire helmet and he was happy, because life was generally good for him, but his dancing lacked that certain something that the helmet added....spunk, oomph, fire. Benjamin's mama felt so terrible about crushing his helmet. She wished there was something she could do and just knew that if she could get him another helmet it would bring him such delight. They tried other helmets (only one actually, but who can go around buying helmet after helmet to please a 2 year old?), but none of them would do. Then one day she had an idea. Maybe if she wrote to the nice firemen who gave Benjamin his fire helmet a while back and explained what happened, they just might be able to come to the rescue.

Here are the exchanges between me (Ben's mama) and the local EMS & Fire Protection District

Me...
Hi there,
My family is new to the area, but we were able to participate in your fall festival and our son LOVED it. He's only two but he's really into fire trucks and hats and all of those things that little boys seem to love. What a great event for the community. Our neighbors (several of them actually) have also had wonderful things to say about you guys....that you have amazing response time and that you do a great job taking care of the city. I hope we never have to call you, but your reputation makes us feel confident that we would be well taken care of. 

I'm also selfishly writing to ask if you might have any kiddy fire hats. My son really got attached to the one he received at the fall festival, but I recently stepped on it and broke it. I realize you have significantly more important issues to deal with than a child's hat, but if you happened to have a spare laying around we sure would appreciate if we could stop by and pick one up. In either case I attached a little video of my son dancing with his hat (a daily occurrence.....no joke). I thought you might get a kick out of seeing how much fun kids have with your kind gesture of giving them fire hats! 

I hope I haven't taken up too much of your time. Thanks again for all that you do in the community!

Sincerely,
Sarah
(The video I sent was the one of him dancing in his fire helmet to Michael Buble's Christmas album. And in case you're thinking the first part of my message was written just to butter the Fire Department up, well you might be partially right. But every word was sincere. And besides, who doesn't like to hear that they are doing a good job and are appreciated?)

Them...

Sarah,
First, thank you so much for the kind words of our district. We strive everyday to provide the best possible service to our area. And secondly, feel free to bring your son by one of our three firehouses anytime. We keep plenty of the children's helmets around for that reason! When and if you get a chance to stop by, I know the on-duty crew would also be more than willing to show your family around firehouse as well as all of our equipment! Thanks again!

Them (again)...
Sarah,
I forwarded your message to our administration staff because everyone at in the department loves to hear when the residents of our district have good things to say about us. Regarding the question of the helmet for your son, how would you feel if sometime next week we brought an ambulance and firetruck to your house to personally give your son another helmet? I know everyone on my shift would love to see the excitement it would bring to him! If this is ok could you send your address and contact information to further set up a date for this.
Thanks!

Me...
Oh my goodness, that would be AWESOME! Yes, we'd love it!!! I was just going to swing by the station sometime next week. We don't want you to go to too much trouble, but I'm not going to turn this down Our address is _____. My cell is ______. Feel free to call or text. This is really kind of you.

Them...
That sounds great! And just so you know it is by no means too much trouble! Everyone here loves going out and doing things for the community! We work 48 hour shifts here, and my shift goes back Tuesday morning. Would sometime after 12:00 p.m. work on either Tuesday or Wednesday?

Me...
Yes, either day is fine with us. We will be here so you can decide what you prefer for your shift (48 hours? Whew! My husband works 24 shifts about once a week and that's rough. I can't imagine doubling that). Benjamin usually needs a nap around 2pm. If it's possible to have you come some time before 2pm or after 5pm that would be great, but I'd certainly be willing to keep him up or wake him for this. Would it be okay if I invited some little friends over? No problem if you'd rather not.

Them..
We would have no problem with having more people come at all! Just so you know I gave your information to our Assistant Chief, he will probably be calling to set this up sometime soon. Sorry if anything gets changed from Tuesday or Wednesday, I didn't realize he would want to set it up! Either way at some point in the near future we will be paying you guys a visit.

Me...  
Sounds great! No problem about the days. We are pretty flexible as I'm a stay-at-home mom. Thanks! This is really wonderful!

After these exchanges, all of which took place within a matter of hours, I went to go tell my husband who was sleeping off a 24 hour call shift. We were both pretty stoked for Benjamin, but a little bummed that Jeff wouldn't be around when they stopped by as he would be at the hospital working. I remember saying, "I wish that you could be here when they come." Then, literally within about an hour, our dog, started barking. Jeff went to go look out the front window to see what she was barking at and there, pulling up in front of our house, was a big, red, shiny firetruck. Ben was having a nap, but Jeff hurried to his room and woke him up. He was sleepy for a moment, but once the kind firemen handed him his new helmet and invited him to climb into the firetruck he woke right up. They sounded the siren and flashed the lights and generally made his entire month. They told us that they were in the neighborhood for a call and that everybody wanted to deliver that helmet as soon as they could. What a fabulous surprise.....and Jeff got to be there for the whole thing after all. More messages to follow...

Me
We are back in business! Ben was a little shy when the crew stopped over, but he talked about the visit from the firemen and firetruck after the rest of the night. Thanks for the special visit and fun memory! Truly so kind of you.

Me (again)...

Okay, sorry....last message but my son was supposed to be sleeping an hour ago and is currently singing a made up song about firemen. Love it. Thanks again!

Them...

Love the pictures and so glad everything worked out! Sorry if it was a little spontaneous everyone heard the story and wanted to get him his helmet as fast as possible! Anytime you guys get a chance stop by any of our 3 firehouses and get a tour! Plus keep an eye on our Facebook page, we have a pancakes with dad on fathers day, the fall festival, and Santa at the firehouse. We put out flyers on our Facebook page for more information! Thanks and I'm so glad everything worked out for Ben!

Me...

We are still talking about your special visit to our house and just can't get over your effort to make a little boy happy. This will be such a special memory for us. We will most certainly be participating in all of the fun events that you host. You made quite the impression on our little boy and on us. Just wanted to again thank you for all that you do....from bringing a little boy a fire helmet to putting your own lives in danger to rescue others. You all are real life heroes and we hope you hear how much you are appreciated and admired from time to time.
As you can see, Benjamin has now taken to brushing his teeth in his new helmet. We will be stopping by the firehouse sometime for a visit as his interest does not seem to be swaying.
With sincere gratitude,
Sarah

 

I still can't get over the generosity of these guys and how they were so willing to take the time to make such a grand gesture for a little boy. What a special memory!