Sad Honors

For those of you wo do not follow me on Twitter, our department lost a Lieutenant on Thanksgiving Day. It was not an LODD. Thanksgiving was not her shift and she lives in a neighboring state. The part of this state that she lives in is very rural, with long winding two-lane roads. The weather was misty and cold. The best assessment they can provide is that she was on her way to her mother's house when she hit a patch of black ice, lost control of her jeep and crossed the path of an oncoming tractor trailer who had nowhere to go. She did not survive the impact. Her ten month old Saint Bernard puppy was in the jeep with her and could not be located after the accident.

El-Tee was a forever happy person with an infectious smile and upbeat attitude. They say only the good die young, but in this case it's true. I can't find one person with anything bad to say about her. I worked with her about a month ago when we were both working overtime.She was easy to talk to and ALWAYS willing to listen. She left behind a lot of friends. She was an animal lover. A Saint Bernard rescuer. So here's the chiller. The pup she had with her the day she died had been missing since the accident Thursday afternoon. El-Tee's friends arranged a search party to try to find him but could not. Early Saturday morning a very close friend said El-Tee came to her in a a dream and told her where the pup could be found. She didn't want his remains left there. The friend immediately went out to the accident scene and the pup was found exactly where she said he would be.

I didn't find out about the accident until I was just about to go to bed at around 23:30. They didn't put the word out because there were guys in the department working who had been very close to her. They shut one station down and sent the Captain over to tell one of her best friends the news in person. I couldn't sleep. Everyone else in my station had gone to bed and I was left there essentially alone not knowing what to do. I fell asleep at about 02:00 and was up again at 05:00. I didn't fall asleep again for a few hours again until about 13:00. It's been a daze ever since.

Monday was the wake. 15:00 to 17:30. 19:00 to 21:00. We did casket vigil in 20 minute intervals. But then, I was a little surprised that there was no casket. By monday El-Tee had been cremated and put in a little cherry-wood box. First of all, and let me just say that she would find this funny, I have a hard time believing her hair alone would fit in that box. There was A LOT of that. I think if there had been a casket many of us would have been unable to hold ourselves together. And there is NO CRYING IN HONOR GUARD. Well. That is, until the man that will be my Captain come the first of the year spoke at the funeral today. Thank god the guard keep their caps on indoors because I lost it for a minute.

We've decided to get together and make a list of what each of us wants in case something happens to us. There will be a recording secretary, a notary public and alcohol involved. It will be necessary since the guys picked out what turned out to be a sparkly pink vase as my final resting place and a matronly polyester white gown for me to wear into the afterlife. Oh, yes. There WILL be haunting. God bless the El-Tee for spelling it out in her will. It made things so much easier on her family.

RIP beautiful girl. We'll remember you.