Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and it always will be. Waking up to my moms favorite winter scent- pumpkin spice- as the smell warms my chest. Every year she makes braided pumpkin spice bread and the whole house is filled with the loving smell. The constant faint scent of peppermint that burns your nose in the slightest way, but I love it. Peppermint candies, candy canes, all of it. However, the Christmas my dad wasn’t there will forever be embedded in my heart like the ink sinking deep into the skin of a tattoo. 

The Christmas Eve after my 6th birthday I wasn’t able to sleep like any other kid in the world. I stay in bed as long as I can before waking my parents- which probably only lasted about 5 minutes. I run down the hallway as fast as I can feeling the rug scratch against my heels. My first thought is to wake up my little brother and make sure he doesn’t miss anything, as I walk up to his door, I peek through the sliver that's open. I see him already playing with his toys. His chubby cheeks cover his eyes as he begins to smile. He instantly stands up and we go out to the living room, stopping. Our little feet are touching the cold tile as we stare at our tree. It’s magnificent, glowing in the dark, the sun just starting to sprout up. All different kinds of colors shooting to all corners of the room. Lighting it up just enough to see that next to the tree is my mom smiling. But no dad. And I knew this, I knew he wasn’t going to be home for Christmas. But I had been praying every night to any God that would listen, hoping my dad would be back in time for Christmas day. 

My dad is a Lineman. The best Lineman I know. A Lineman installs, repairs, and replaces electrical power lines or boxes to homes, businesses, and cities. They are the people who build and maintain the electric infrastructures we depend on every day, like dogs to any drop of food they can find. They are often confused with electricians, but they have more responsibilities and their job is much more dangerous. Think of it this way, electricians work inside and linemen work outside. 

During the summer, our family holds many get-togethers. Some of my best memories. Walking through my aunt's front door all the way through to her back door. As soon as I slide the door to the side I see everyone laughing and talking. I can smell the smoke from the carne asada, being cooked to perfection. The kids are running around playing tag or tossing around a baseball. Me and my cousins favorite was baseball, we were always tossing around a ball seeing who could throw the farthest, who could run the bases the fastest. Then you hear the ringtone. The high pitched sound that everyone now recognizes. I turn to my dad “work?”. He nodded his head and walked back to the car. Due to a fire he has to leave for work. He gears up helmet to boots. Long sleeves and pants. Layers and layers. Sometimes he takes 2 minutes to eat, most of the time he doesn’t. ‘Would you want someone to dilly dally or would you want someone to rush if your house was on fire?’ Is what my dad always said. Watching him leave and not knowing when he’ll come back never gets easy. 

             In my home town, summers have adopted the name of “fire season”. I know if I see smoke in the air my dad will get called out. In the winter, if I'm blinded by the bright white snow, hanging out at home on a snow day, I know my dad will get called out. If it's windy and my hair won't stop getting stuck to my lipgloss or my contacts get so dry they try to pop out, I know my dad will be called out. As a Lineman you are not considered a first responder. However they are, and they should be. 

A first responder is someone who responds to fire, medical, hazardous material, or any other emergencies. This past summer my brother had a baseball tournament in Medical Lake. It’s a really small town so one of the only options we had to eat was Subway. We walk in and smell the fresh bread, slightly burned. We all order our food and as my dad hands his card over the worker says “Are you a first responder?” He responds with “yes”. The worker then gives a list of first responders asking if my dad fits into the category. My dad looks over at my mom, disappointed, shaking his head “no”. My mom always gets upset but dad tells her ‘just leave it.’ I always think about this. It leaves a little sting in my heart. Similar to a paper cut. It hurts really bad at first then you realize it’s just a little papercut. Except I reassured myself with “oh well that's how the world is'' and I seemed to get paper cuts a lot.

Anytime there is a house fire, the Fire Department is called. What most people don’t know is everytime there is a fire a Lineman is also called out. Firemen won’t go into a house or start fighting the fire until all the power is turned off. Linemen have hoses in their trucks to put out fires so they are able to turn the power off. This is the same for any other building, whether it’s a home or business. If a fire fighter is called, a Lineman is called. If there is a fire on a power line- firemen won’t put it out.. That is all a lineman's responsibility. To put out those fires before it spreads or before it continues spreading. The utility companies have their own water trucks  for these types of scenarios. 

First responders work really hard. They are risking their lives every time they leave their families. Their families don’t know when they’ll come back or if they’ll l come back.

The scariest thing is that’s how my family feels. But why am I so passionate about Lineman deserving the title of a First Responder? First Responders- deservingling- get many benefits. For example, after 30 years of service they are able to retire. Which is usually about the age of 50 or 55. As a lineman my dad and many others don’t get that benefit. They have to work many more years to get the same benefit. Their job is hard on their bodies. Their job is very physical, there is no shortcut. All those families who worry when their family members will get home and worry if they will be safe- that’s me. That's my family, we want my dad safe and we know how hard he works. We want him to get all the credit he deserves. I want him ot get all the credit he deserves.