To My Paramedic Son

I haven't posted a tribute Tuesday in a while, but this morning I wanted to tell you about my middle son, Stephen.
I very distinctly remember the day within the first few weeks of FIRST grade when Stephen told me he was ready to quit school. He was very serious. He had loved Kindergarten and even had the exact same teacher and classmates in first grade that he had in Kindergarten in a special program the school was trying out where the teacher kept the same class for 2 years. Well, first grade expected you to really work not just play and school work just wasn't for him. So the next 12 years were sometimes a struggle, but he graduated from high school in 2004.He had a scholarship all lined up to go to a small Christian college where his father and I had met, but was not excited about it. A few days before time to go, he decided not to go. For the next couple of years he would attend our local community college for a semester or two and then decide college just wasn't for him. He always had a job and worked somewhere whether he took classes or not.

Then finally he found out what he wanted to do. He wants to work on a medical helicopter. He was working at an airport and got to know some of the emergency medical professionals who worked on the medical helicopter. They let him spend the day with them and go on a couple of calls. So he applied for the EMT program at college, was accepted into the program and worked very hard to complete the program. He got a job with an ambulance service and entered a 1 year intense program to become a paramedic. He finished that work and national testing this past May. In June he was promoted at his job to the paramedic position. Now, his goal is to find a bridge program to become a Registered Nurse. He's taking prerequisite classes now.
But more than any of that--Stephen cares about people and he serves God.

He told us about a recent transport of an 8 year old little girl who found out she has a tumor on her ovary and needed to be transferred from a local hospital to a larger children's specialty hospital during the night. Her mom was with her and was upset. She asked if they (EMT and Paramedic) were Christians. They were and prayed with them in the ambulance and talked about their faith, etc on the way to the other hospital. So my son found out where this family attends church and took a card and teddy bear to their church and asked them to get it to the family yesterday.

I'm so proud of my 1st grade drop out!!