40 minutes to bake, 20 minutes to cool (thank god for the freezer) and 5 minutes to frost. That left him ten minutes to get to the park. Perfect. Especially since it also gave him about 2 minutes to run into the store and grab up flowers for her. It was just a normal polite thing his dad taught him when he was younger. He never met anyone without at least flowers. If he'd had a few more minutes, he would have gotten her some wine or something too.

He moved to where they said they'd meet. He was right on time (thank god).

Sometimes we can't save them all.

It's already been a long day and I've still got 9 hours left.

So, we went on a run today to a house fire at about 11:15. It was a bad one. Kids playing with matches and burning paper led to a fire that killed 2 of them. One was only 18 months old. The other was her 8 year old brother who'd gone in to try to save her.

It's horrific. It's always horrific to go to a fire where someone dies, but it's especially so when it's children. Nothing in the world like seeing team members go in with hoses and come out with dead bodies.

There had been six kids home alone, apparently. The 12 year old eldest child was babysitting the others. The 10 year old started the fire. I really have nothing to say beyond this, other than that it hurt, watching these four children huddled together under a tree. Knowing that we couldn't protect them from the hurt.

There are days I wonder if I'm really cut out for this. And then we'll protect someone, or everyone comes out alive, or we catch something before it turns huge... and it's wonderful. But then, there's days like today.

Hug your kids extra tight tonight, everyone. Especially if they've been driving you nuts all day. Hug them tight, and thank god that they're there to make you insane.

Back to work.