As Thanksgiving dawned this past Thursday at High Grass Manor I had a lot to be thankful for. A wonderful wife and two great kids, a nice house, and a job I dearly love. But this year I had something else to be thankful- the night before I had completed the final class I needed in the patented W.S. Melton Firefighter I for Firemen with Lives and Wives to receive state certification as a Firefighter I.

This course has taken up every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of my life since August 17 and then some. Over 225 hours of training that covered 18 individual blocks of instruction in subjects like Orientation and Safety, Personal Protective Equipment, and my two personal favorites Ladders and Rescue. Ladders I devoted an entire column too. Rescue I haven’t mentioned. That ‘un had a practical evolution that included having to dive through a window into a burning room wearing full turnout gear and air pack, finding a dummy, dragging it to a window, and then diving back through the window again.

Let’s just say I learned from this exercise that at my age and size lift off can be problematic- and touch down can be even worse than that.

After some of these classes me and the Ben Gay warmed up nicely together.

So I’ve come full circle now. I started my career in public safety at the age 14 with East Gaston Volunteer Fire Department. I joined Mt. Holly Lifesaving Crew at 18 and ran rescue back before we had real paramedics in this county. About all we could give you was some big Bandaids, some oxygen if you were really bad off, and a fast ride to the hospital. I was so good at that last part I could’ve driven for NASCAR.

I gave both those up for a career in law enforcement though. First as a Mecklenburg County Police officer in 1988 and then as Gaston County Police officer in April of 1990. I did rejoin East Gaston briefly back then but I didn’t stay long. Fact is, I was having too much fun being a County cop, a “Rural”, as we’re still affectionately known. And I have had a ball there ever since. It’s no trick of fate that my pickup truck is green and gray or that most everything I wear on or off duty has the department logo or name on it. The Gaston County Police Department is my true passion.

And currently as the captain over training, recruiting, records, victim witness, accreditation, and all the officers we have assigned to schools I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had in my life. It is a great job at a great police department working with great people.

Then Jacob came along and wanted to join the fire department. There was no way I could say no. So back I came. Only to find a lot of water had shot out the fire hose since then.

The best way I can explain it is when I left the fire service I was like the Professor on Gilligan’s Island. When the boat left the dock I was content professional in the fire service. I trained new firemen how to fight fire, drive fire trucks, and pump water out of them. But I came back from the Island some 20 years later I’d been bucked down to Gilligan.

At least now that I’ve finished Firefighter I maybe I can at least aspire to be the Skipper. I’m at least built at lot like him anyway.

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• William S, Melton Jr, is a Southern numorist, an author and a good ol’ boy who was once a minister in Union County and now is a police lieutenant in Gastonia.