Outside of college, have you ever made a beer run at 8:30 a.m. I just did. Danny and I are not big drinkers. We rarely drink at all, but every now and again an occasion rises. This past Sunday brought about one such occasion, but not like you are thinking...
Sunday morning, 25 minutes after Danny's shift was supposed to end, I get a text "going to be late this morning". To which I replied with as much sarcasm as possible in a text message "realllly?" No response. The lack of response was a sign. At around 8:00 a.m. my knight in shining Kevlar finally made it home. I asked him the usual "how was your night?" He looked at me with pain in his eyes and said "Not good. Not good at all." He went on to say he didn't want to talk about it, and I knew better than to ask him to do so.
Danny had made mention that he wished we had some beer. I volunteered to go buy some, but he told me I didn't need to. That he would be fine. I watched him, sitting there looking so defeated and worn, all the while wondering what it was he had experienced that had him so down trodden. To see this hero of mine this way broke my heart, but I wasn't about to let him know that. I got up, got dressed and went to the store. I was willing to do just about anything to help alleviate his pain, and the drive gave me opportunity to cry for him without him seeing me. My heart was aching for this brave man who chooses every day of his career to go out and combat the evil of this world, who that day came home defeated.
The only mention he made the rest of the day about the call was that in his 17 years in law enforcement he had never experienced anything like that and he hoped to never again. I didn't ask questions. I knew if and when he was ready to talk about it, he would.
Thursday night, Danny was ready. He looked at the obituaries in the newspaper. He paused, looked at me and said, "do you want to know why my night was so bad the other night?" The call he responded to was an infant in distress. He was met at the front door by an elderly gentleman saying, "Danny, save my grandson." He led Danny to the bedroom where there was a 3 month old baby boy laying unresponsive. Danny started CPR and continued until he heard the ambulance pull up out front. He then scooped that baby boy up in his arms and ran out the front door with him, jumped over a brick retaining wall and yelled at the ambulance drivers to open the back doors because he was bringing the baby to them. The medics went to work on the baby in the back and Danny jumped into the driver's seat of the ambulance and took off.
My hero did everything in his power to save that precious baby. God love him! When members of the public see an officer in uniform, they see a power hungry, ego ridden, bully with a badge and a gun. For the greater majority of officers, that couldn't be the farthest thing from the truth. Behind that badge and the gun is a human, with a heart and emotions, who chose a career where they spend every day seeing the ugliest of the ugly of this world. God Bless Them! The next time you cross paths with an officer, at the very least smile at them. Say hello. Shake their hand. Tell them thank you. You never know what kind of call they just came off of. Your simple act of kindness may help make a miserable shift a little more bearable.
