Back in June, Ben found out from a co-worker, Josh, that he was planning on organizing a memorial stair climb in honor of the 343 lost fire fighters from ground zero on 9/11. Josh had seen this done in Denver last year. It is also done in New York. Ben immediately wanted to be apart of this event. He and his buddy Erik have been preparing for this for the last couple months. Nothing could prepare you though for what it would truly be like. Here is a picture of Ben with Alli and an old Nashville fire truck.
They allowed 343 fire fighters from around the country to register to climb 110 flights of stairs (stories) symbolic to what the 343 climbed on 9/11. The guys wore complete turn out gear, air packs, and some took additional tools or HEAVY high rise packs. The opening ceremony was simple and to the point. They explained why we were there and who we were honoring by being there. All of the fire fighters were assigned one of the fallen fire fighters and wore his picture around his neck on a lapel. I don't remember Ben's but I know his last name was LaForge. It's so easy to see some of these events happening far away and think oh it will never happen to me, but it could...it really could. I couldn't help but think standing there in the level 1 of the garage underneath the Pinnacle building, that this building (under the right circumstances) could fall and I could be trapped by a pile of rubble. How that must have felt...how those fire fighters must have felt rushing in to try to save any and all they could find....knowing their own lives were at risk. I usually don't worry about Ben in his job. I know he is trained and I know "most" of the guys he works with also take their training seriously...so all in all I feel secure in thinking he'll be home the next day...but accidents happen and my husband could be one of the heroes called home early. Memorials like this one day really put in perspective the value of life, the value of family, and the value of the brotherhood that Ben shares with the men that he trusts his life with as they together fight to save the lives of others. Below is a picture of his group (company) that he climbed 110 stories with. All of the fire fighters in Ben's company are from Smyrna's department.
The Nashville Fire Department Honor Guard Bag Pipe Band Set the tone for the day...
Time to suit up
Ben and Erik
Ben's Company
The Pinnacle building isn't 110 stories high so what they did was climb 29 floors and then took a freight elevator down. They did this 3 times. Then on the 4th time up they stopped at the 22nd floor. This was a vacant floor where all the family and friends were waiting and cheering them on from the open door of the stair way! Here is a shot of Ben going up his 1st set of 29 floors.
2nd set of 29 floors...really starting to show how hard this is..
Alli was an INCREDIBLE trooper. We had to be out of the house by 6:30am to get to Nashville and get Ben registered in time. So Alli was up from 6am-12pm. Normally Alli is really showing fatigue by 3 hrs up...this girl was amazing today. I love her. She made it possible for me to go and support Ben in something he felt so honored to go and do. By noon our poor baby had absolutely crashed on my shoulders and most of you know...our baby will NOT sleep on us...so she was tired.
killing time in between seeing Ben climb the stairs.
After 3 1/2 trips up the Pinnacle...our guys were done...and completely exhausted! Ben was so proud to have accomplished his goal of making all 110 flights while keeping all his gear on. Some of the guys had to take gear off due to fatigue and overexertion.
Alli was so excited to see her daddy! We are so proud of him!
Our hero in so many ways!
Love this...
The company
Thank you to all those who give their lives daily in protecting our lives and our freedoms...I mean this for all Fire Fighters, Police, EMS and Military!!
They allowed 343 fire fighters from around the country to register to climb 110 flights of stairs (stories) symbolic to what the 343 climbed on 9/11. The guys wore complete turn out gear, air packs, and some took additional tools or HEAVY high rise packs. The opening ceremony was simple and to the point. They explained why we were there and who we were honoring by being there. All of the fire fighters were assigned one of the fallen fire fighters and wore his picture around his neck on a lapel. I don't remember Ben's but I know his last name was LaForge. It's so easy to see some of these events happening far away and think oh it will never happen to me, but it could...it really could. I couldn't help but think standing there in the level 1 of the garage underneath the Pinnacle building, that this building (under the right circumstances) could fall and I could be trapped by a pile of rubble. How that must have felt...how those fire fighters must have felt rushing in to try to save any and all they could find....knowing their own lives were at risk. I usually don't worry about Ben in his job. I know he is trained and I know "most" of the guys he works with also take their training seriously...so all in all I feel secure in thinking he'll be home the next day...but accidents happen and my husband could be one of the heroes called home early. Memorials like this one day really put in perspective the value of life, the value of family, and the value of the brotherhood that Ben shares with the men that he trusts his life with as they together fight to save the lives of others. Below is a picture of his group (company) that he climbed 110 stories with. All of the fire fighters in Ben's company are from Smyrna's department.
The Nashville Fire Department Honor Guard Bag Pipe Band Set the tone for the day...
Time to suit up
Ben and Erik
Ben's Company
The Pinnacle building isn't 110 stories high so what they did was climb 29 floors and then took a freight elevator down. They did this 3 times. Then on the 4th time up they stopped at the 22nd floor. This was a vacant floor where all the family and friends were waiting and cheering them on from the open door of the stair way! Here is a shot of Ben going up his 1st set of 29 floors.
2nd set of 29 floors...really starting to show how hard this is..
Alli was an INCREDIBLE trooper. We had to be out of the house by 6:30am to get to Nashville and get Ben registered in time. So Alli was up from 6am-12pm. Normally Alli is really showing fatigue by 3 hrs up...this girl was amazing today. I love her. She made it possible for me to go and support Ben in something he felt so honored to go and do. By noon our poor baby had absolutely crashed on my shoulders and most of you know...our baby will NOT sleep on us...so she was tired.
killing time in between seeing Ben climb the stairs.
After 3 1/2 trips up the Pinnacle...our guys were done...and completely exhausted! Ben was so proud to have accomplished his goal of making all 110 flights while keeping all his gear on. Some of the guys had to take gear off due to fatigue and overexertion.
Alli was so excited to see her daddy! We are so proud of him!
Our hero in so many ways!
Love this...
The company
Thank you to all those who give their lives daily in protecting our lives and our freedoms...I mean this for all Fire Fighters, Police, EMS and Military!!
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