Wide awake for dreaming

During the really busy stretches when two days essentially melt into one — and there are many — Anes Gadun works an overnight shift as an EMT from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and a 10-hour shift at his family’s auto body shop in Clinton from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Then, sometimes, it’s straight back to the ambulance. Or maybe the firehouse. Yes, he’s also a volunteer firefighter, has been for about six years.

When does this kid sleep?

“During the [ambulance] shift, when there are no calls,” he said.

Gadun, 20, a sophomore soccer player and pre-med student at Trinity College, will one day be a doctor.

“I guess I’m prepping my body for residency,” he said.

We’re obviously living in a time of great complication, with COVID-19 putting a screeching halt to certain routines and demanding that we find different ways to make the most of the minutes, hours and days that comprise our lives and shape our futures.

For Gadun, ironically, that has meant returning to what he ordinarily does while home, at an accelerated pace, with endeavors that are equally exhausting, exhilarating and rewarding.

Gadun left Trinity’s Hartford campus in March, continuing his education through online classes like just about every other student in America. A volunteer firefighter since he was a 14-year-old high school freshman, he reestablished a presence there. An EMT for the past two years, he scheduled as many ambulance shifts as he can manage.

All with a scary virus sweeping the