It’s Monday, October 29, and I’m sitting in the office after just seeing the list and map of outages on the burger shop’s television. Looks like all non-municipals! Of course, we are supposed to get the brunt of the storm in the next 10 hours, so I am hoping the storm was over-hyped and that predicted outages are far more than actual.

This past Thursday, I went to upstate New York for the fourth-year apprentice class graduation. While they were recognizing this great group of linemen, in the back of my mind was the question: "How will this storm play out?" This thought was spurred on by Bill Hesson’s (our instructor's) stories. With wives and girlfriends in attendance, Bill really drove home what the profession is all about and what a lineman’s life is like.

He spoke of the dangers and that the primary duty is to make it home to your loved ones. You could see this concept register for the first time with some of the significant others. The fact is that this isn’t an accountant who will be home at the end of the day and the worst that could happen is carpal tunnel syndrome or a paper cut.

Then Bill introduced his lovely wife, Kathy, and spoke about how over the decades of their marriage, events such as holidays were not like others'. He told stories of his numerous Christmas Eves and the ways that they were impacted by storms and outages. From an audience perspective, the calamities were funny and Kathy seemed to be amused now. But, I am imagining that they were quite stressful at the time. The significant others understood that the person they were there for wasn’t a truck driver either, where they had a schedule that they could rely on.

Then everyone recognized the concept of service/commitment, and the demands it could take registered on the faces of the guests. The graduates knew these impacts, and they didn’t flinch or show any sign of amazement, only amusement. Between their current job duties, the apprentice curriculum and Bill’s four years of sharing life experiences, they knew what the job was and what they had signed up for. In the back of their minds, they were probably thinking of the pending storm and what the next week or weeks might be like.

As the night evolved, two other very important things became readily apparent: Bill had done an outstanding job of teaching and preparing these individuals, and a unique bond had developed between mentor/teacher and professional/student. There was good-natured ribbing from both sides and a great deal of mutual respect and gratitude. Steve Socoby had said to me right after I started, "Being a lineman is in your blood and never leaves." It is great to see that post career, people like Bill, Steve and our other instructors can continue to be part of this outstanding profession and share their knowledge with the future of the profession.

Congratulations to both our New York and New England fourth-year graduates. You have entered a great profession made up of good, hard-working people. Thank you to the New York volunteers who showed up to recognize the graduates and thank you to Bill and Kathy, who accepts his commitment to us and the profession!