Oh Captain! My Captain!

I feel like I should stand on top of my desk today and shout it out "Oh Captain, My Captain!"

But instead, I will post these photos from today's promotion ceremony.

I am a member of the Fire Wives so I wore my pin - gotta represent my girls.

And in the front row we have, Mommy, Wyatt,

And of course Daddy.  (Elsie was paying attention so she didn't participate in the selfie action w/ us.)

We all came to see this!  The gold badge.

We keep this one for the shadow box. It is part of Jarad's story as a member of the fire department.  It makes me think of my own father's police department badge and how it was, in my mind, magical. This one feels that way too.

Here's the full crew that got new badges today - lots of ranks - all pretty proud.

My hams.  Love them. Yes, we took them out of school to share this moment.  It was so worth it.

In case you wanted to see it up close and personal, here's his new bugle, which, by the way, Elsie thinks looks like a flash light.

It has been a long road to this moment.  Lots of studying, tests, missed birthdays, anniversaries, holidays etc, and though none of that changes with being Captain, this is a huge step for Jarad in the Department.  We are so proud to call him our Captain.