Firemen, Fairy Godmothers and other Protectors

What is the appeal of firemen? There are the obvious ones: great , big dramatic moustaches, (on the men, at least); saving our lives; saving our beloved pets' lives; those super cool ladder trucks, (not just small boys are impressed by large machinery); uniforms which are casual, rugged, yet still uniforms; the studied nonchalance of professional heroes.
These things, though, in and of themselves, don't speak to the true essence of these men and women. The essence of home, house, hearth. The protection of these things, not only in their heroic guises, but also in their day to day job description. More often than not, I see firemen at the grocery store, in uniform, sometimes even in their big, black firefighting pants and boots, shopping for food, chatting like a bunch of old biddies. I see them sweeping and cleaning in the fire station, knowing there are probably one or two of them upstairs, cooking away, keeping the fire where it should be. It comforts me to know that superheroes can also be mommies.

Fairy Godmothers, on the other hand, attend. They attend births, christenings, weddings, the events that mark our lives, and in the attending bestow gifts which are meant to protect. They don't hang around for the day to day occurrences, the projectile spitting up, the temper tantrums, the washing, the going for a walk. Theirs is a magical protection, a singular charm, a perfect word, that will help the attended upon make the right choice between harm and safety. The protection of fairy godmothers is often not a comfortable one, because things can go awry, or the FG herself becomes unbalanced, and then we are left to hope the proverbial double edged sword doesn't slice us in the passing.

Somewhere in between the two are the Aunties. Those who would run into a burning house to save the beloved, offer a protective spell, make a cake, calmly accept a smiling offer of spitup, or accidentally teach a young child how to use the f-bomb in a sentence. Fierce protectors of the child, the family of the child, and the independence of the child, we should all have at least one Auntie.