Dreams Come True

As if Owen hadn't already had the most spectacular birthday celebration of all time, he had one more major gift in store.

Still in Chapel Hill for Owen's birthday weekend, we were getting ready to walk into Harris Teeter when, lo and behold, a fire engine pulled up right in front of the store. First we both stared in silent awe and then we started waving madly. The gentlemen inside got out (they were grabbing lunch between calls as it turned out) and within a few moments, one of the guys had invited Owen onto the truck. He happily and eager accepted:
This was SUCH a dream come true. We fantasize about this happening on a regular basis. When looking at pictures of fire engines, Owen says that he wants to drive and then we launch into an entire pretend sequence where he asks the driver if he can take her for a spin, secures the keys, starts the ignition, gives it some gas, and off we go.

Sure enough, about 30 seconds after getting up into the driver's seat, Owen asked the fireman for his keys (he cracked up and called out to his buddies, "Did you hear that, man? This kid just asked for the keys!"):
The fireman did not choose to hand over the keys, but he did let Owen turn the lights on:
Then he carried him around to the front of the truck so he could see the flashing lights (I'm sure this is a fine-tuned trick for getting little boys the hell out of your truck so you can finally get something to eat after a long morning saving lives and what not):
The guys couldn't have been more friendly and - witnessing our level of fandom and excitement over the whole situation - told me that I should bring Owen down to the station sometime.
I never imagined that a fire truck sighting and boarding could be so exciting. I have followed fire engines around downtown before so Owen could get a better look (not ones with the siren on, mind you, we just like to get as close as we can). Bill and I were driving to work together yesterday and I saw a fire engine and my heart leapt and then I realized Owen wasn't even in the car...