In Transition

So here we are, the night before our second round starts. We got back to Denver on Wednesday afternoon. Only a few people ended up going to the Rockies game. I was one of those who decided to stay on campus. I was tired! I took my time unpacking and settling in. Nikki and I walked to a Tokyo Joe’s in Englewood for dinner. That was a treat, I hadn’t had sushi in a long time.

It was a little strange at first to regroup. There was a steady stream of returning teams throughout Wednesday and Thursday. I kind of felt a little aloof and removed at first. People I knew were returning but I didn’t feel an immediate draw to see anyone. I think I really felt the absence of my team – we had gone from spending every waking (and sleeping) moment together to not knowing where or what each of them was doing at any given time. It was odd. I also missed the presence of Wolf 4; during our last night together, someone made the point that our two teams had probably gotten to know each other better than anyone we had met during CTI. Both CTI and our first rounds were both about four weeks long, but our two teams had spent much more time together. So yeah, the return was a little strange for me at first, especially since most of my team was excited to see other Denver people and I was just kind of there. The week gradually got better, though. I fell back into place and got to hang out with people I hadn’t seen since CTI. I also got to spend time with people whom I hadn’t even had the chance to meet during CTI.

Ervin told us that transition weeks were designed to allow teams to decompress, but that wasn’t really the case with me. There were a few times where I had some moments to myself. But I had to go to ATL (Assistant Team Leader … yes, I’m an ATL now) and Peer Helper trainings. Bleh. Oh well. I’m not gonna lie, I used the time to make a ton of friendship bracelets.

Speaking of … I’m going to take this moment to ask for some help. When I was younger, I made friendship bracelets like a machine. I could do all sorts of patterns, too – stripes, zig zags, diamonds. But every single stripe bracelet I’ve started lately has turned out the same way: it curls up as soon as I get a few rows done. I’ve tried tightening the knots, loosening them … nothing seems to remedy the curling. If anyone knows the secret, I’d be forever thankful.

In other news, we found out at the project briefing for our second round where we’ll be living for this wildfire spike. Well … sort of. At our briefing, we were told that our team would be living in Boulder and commuting to the work center in Nederland. The house sounded pretty sweet … until we found out two days later that plans had changed and now we’re going to actually be living at the work center in Ned (technically, it’s about a two mile walk from the actual town). The work center has bunkhouses for the seasonal Forest Service firefighters. Apparently we managed to arrange to have one just for our team. It’s got five bedrooms, each with two beds and its own bathroom. There are two refrigerators, two dishwashers, two stoves, two washers and two dryers. There’s satellite tv and big couches. I’m pretty excited, that will be a sweet retreat at the end of the workday. And it will be nice to not have to wake up extra early to commute to work. I will probably roll out of bed on more than one occasion for this next round. The only drawbacks are no cell service (so I’ve heard) and the closest access to internet is two miles down into town to the public library. But the bunkhouse has a landline and I have a calling card. Besides, during CTI I spent every Sunday walking down to Mile High Café in Englewood. So I’m used to walking for my email at this point.

Another perk is that we’ll be getting our “red cards,” which apparently prove that we’re wildland firefighters and give us free public transportation. Buses run from Ned to Boulder and from Boulder to Denver all the time, so that will be great as well. I’ll definitely put that to use, I really want to explore Boulder!

So that’s it. I should probably get to bed, tomorrow’s a big day. We’re going to wake up early, eat breakfast, drive to the work center, drop our stuff off at the bunkhouse and then get to work. I think we’re supposed to have a field day tomorrow so it’ll be a little different than a normal workday. After work is over, I get to go down to Boulder to go grocery shopping for the week (*cue apathetic “woo!”*) and then hopefully unpack. I’m not sure how I feel, I don’t think the reality of what I’ll be doing has set in yet. My red bag is packed and ready for dispatch. My line bag is as packed as it can be without all of the stuff they’ll assign for us. I feel like I should be nervous, but I’m not, at least not yet. I’m not really jumping-jacks excited either, though. But it’ll probably kick in tomorrow. We’ll see. I think I’m just ready to get into it. I know I’ll make mistakes and I know that I’ll forget things more often than I’ll remember them at first. But I really just wanna have someone kick my butt into gear, I miss having my boundaries pushed.