A long time in the making

Welcome! If you have found yourself here, chances are high that you're either family or a friend. But no matter! Every good thing starts small right? 

I'll admit I have been dragging my feet on starting this blog for 4 years and have talked myself out of it many times. I mean why would anyone care what I have to say anyway? You know what I've learned over these past 4 years though? The best way to inspire people is to not try. That's pretty easy and simple because that's what I do. Or not do? 

So who am I? Well in a nutshell, I live in Northeast Washington state. I am a 43 year old single mother of four (3 daughters and 1 son), wildland firefighter, forester and fire ecologist. I've earned my B.S. in Forest Resources and am finishing my M.S. in Fire Ecology and Management, both through the University of Idaho. Go Vandals!

To me all that translates into is I'm a single mom, in college, trying to get a permanent job. Nothing fancy about that. 

Now I truly believe age is just a number, but I share my age with you as it is part of what makes my journey unconventional. You see, aside from my children, all of the above has happened in the last 6 years.To expand a bit on the above, I have 3 daughters ages 23, 13 and 8 and my son is 21; I share custody with the father of my younger two girls. 

Over the last five summers I've spent four as a wildland firefighter and one as a forester and had no exposure or experience with either prior to starting school. In fact, I had never really been in the woods off established trails, but more about that in a future post.

2018 - Blacklining a fire. Blacklining is where you burn the unburnt vegetation between the fire and the containment line.

What makes my journey so unique? Well pretty much everything... as you'll learn in my blogging adventure. In 2012 (when I was 37) I learned of a brand new VA program designed to retrain unemployed veterans ages 35-50. It would give me money to go to school for a certificate or associate's degree. My GI Bill had expired (yes that's a thing), and for the first time in my life I didn't cringe at the thought of going to college. 

At the time my marriage was in trouble and, since I had been a stay-at-home mom for 7 years, I was debating whether to get a job right away or go to college. Then my friend who lives in Massachusetts contacted me and wanted to meet up as she was on a "bucket list" road trip with her husband. We met up at a local McDonald's where I explained my situation to her. 

Coincidentally, she counsels graduate students, and she explained my choices to me this way: 

If you go get a job with your current skills and experience you'll make money right away and it will pay the bills, but the chances of you being passionate about what you do are slim to none. If you go to college, you'll likely go into debt and that means you'll probably bring home the same money at first as you would without a degree. However, long term you'll make much more money and the chances you'll be passionate about your job are much higher. 

April 17, 2012 - That fateful day at McD's

I was sold. I mean why would I settle for just a job when I could make a difference in the world while I'm at it? Little did I know that was the beginning of a journey that would completely change my life. 

A journey I would like to share with you. My next post will explain how something gets forged from ashes. How does that happen exactly?