Reading Reaction #4 "The War Within"

On the day Botti describes, he is haying goodbye to people, a place, and a new life he had barley begun. Describe a significant time in your life when you said goodbye. You may have been leaving a place, ending a relationship, giving up a dream, or breaking a dangerous addiction.

When I read this reading reaction it immediately reminded me of moving to Chico and acquiring a job as a wild land firefighter. I moved to Chico from Santa Rosa in March of 2002 into my friend Josh's house. In Santa Rosa I became idle with my life. Many issues arose at once, so I attempted to deal with them to the best of my ability. At this time I stayed in contact with my friend Josh. Keeping in contact with Josh allowed me to filter through a few options that were presented to me. One option was to stay in Santa Rosa and attempt to fix all the problems that surrounded me, but at the time it seemed unrealistic for me. The second option was for me to move up to Chico after I sorted through my issues, deal with my priorities then move to Chico. The third option was to forget about moving, and keep working, stay in the same situation and make the best of things. After talking with Josh, Casey( now my wife), my mom and dad I decided to move up to Chico. Josh allowed me to live with him for a month for free, which enabled me to find a steady source of income. At first I worked for a temporary employment agency for a month. This line of work allowed me to make enough money to pay Josh for room and board. Around the beginning of April I was offered a job by a former co-worker of Josh's. This person was involved in the wild land firefighting industry. I found out how much the pay rate was, how much I could make if I worked hard, and some of the incentives that the company offered. After passing a drug test, physical fitness test, and receiving training, I started my employment with Firestorm. For a few months I would work around the town assisting co-workers with fuel reduction treatment. I started to feel apart of the community, by making friends at work, having some family around if things went south, and having a great friend around that opened his home to me. Sometime in June I received my first fire call. It was around 10:00p.m. I was distraught, not to mention stressed out. I did not know what to expect fighting a fire in the forest. When I read this reading reaction, I instantly thought of this experience. I made a move in my life at 21 years old, so the impact of the move as well as the impact of the experiences in my life at the time really threw me for a loop. When I received that first call I contacted many people to figure out how to deal with the emotions that I felt at the time. After the first experience I knew that this industry was something that I could become passionate about. Oh yeah the money was good also.