The man in the picture is my grandfather, Earl C. Mayers, better known to many as “Smokey”.  To me, he was “Grandpop”. My whole life he served as “the Fire Marshal”.  I say it like that because he carried that title in several jurisdictional responsibilities, the most visible being the Chief Fire Marshal for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania until his death […]

We all face it. Adversity. It’s what we do with it that matters. I’ve been slogging through a rough month and a half.  Things that have always gone right have gone inexplicably awry. People I thought I could count on, managing to question my faith. Even the things I have always sought to be my […]

NOTE: I added a few other resources at the end of the post.  Please share these if you know someone who needs help. In the very first week of November  in 1993, a week I remember well, a fellow responder of mine put a bullet in his head.  He, along with many of my friends, were supposed […]

This is the five hundred and fifth post for Firehouse Zen. I would probably have called attention to number five hundred, but it was in the middle of the series honoring my brother’s 50th birthday and didn’t want to distract from THAT celebration. That is a lot of writing over a lot of days.  If you […]

Tomorrow is the big day and Brian will be 50. He’s an amazing guy and best friend to so many. It’s hard to believe we have both endured a half-century on this mortal coil and given how I feel, and I am assuming Brian feels the same, we could easily go another 50. Maybe by then […]

As we begin to wind down our tribute to Brian on his 50th birthday, you have to know that I am not a sappy short story writer. But when I can reach people’s emotions, I feel like I hit something. I feel like the first few posts went well, but maybe 17 days of tributes […]

Thanks for keeping up with us through these Days of Brian, the best brother anyone could ever wish for, in honor of his 50 years with us.  He happens to be celebrating in Aruba with his wife, which is much nicer than hanging out with any of the rest of us, especially with the weather […]

This is the countdown to March 17, and a happy 50th to my brother, Brian, the best brother anyone could ever want in the whole world. Four more to go? It’s not like we call each other every day, or even every week.  I guess we should, but the beauty of the internet these days […]

In just a few more days, my brother Brian will be 50.  He has had a great life: everyone loves him, he’s a great dad and husband, an outstanding employee and doing pretty cool stuff in his job. Kati’s dog even loves him. I have shared a few stories that might have been a little […]

Happy 50th Birthday to my dear brother Brian, with only a few more days until March 17th, the day he shares with our patron saint, Patrick. I just found out he is vacationing with his wonderful wife, Heather, in Aruba right now. When winter came, we were usually pretty happy when a snow day hit, […]

This is the continued countdown to March 17, and a happy 50th to my brother, Brian, the best brother anyone could ever want in the whole world.  Brian and I had some great experiences together.  Don’t let this series fool you- these stories are meant to show the funny (to us) and amazing moments we had together.  While […]