I had a really great birthday! The morning of my birthday, I had a go/no-go call for a big project I had been managing at work... and it was a "go", so that started things off right! As soon as that call was over, I packed up the boys and we headed to the Jackson Family Farm for a free dairy tour. Of course my phone died right after we got there, but we had fun going on a hay ride around the dairy, seeing some baby cows, and drinking chocolate milk :-)
The evening of my birthday, we headed up with a bunch of family for a picnic and a show at Starlight Mountain Theater (thanks mom and dad!). It was fun watching my cousin Todd perform in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It capped off a really wonderful day.
By birthday present from Matt came a few weeks later when he arranged for his parents to watch the kids so I could go on a ride along with him! I had such an enjoyable time and really grew to appreciate Matt even more. I'll share a few stories from the evening below.
Saving a Life - The first call that Matt and I went to was at an apartment complex. The apartment managers indicated that a man was late on paying his rent and nobody had seen him for a few days. According to them, the man had lived in the apartment since the 80s, didn't own a car, never went on vacation, and was never late on rent. Matt explained to the apartment manager that he couldn't just go into the apartment, but if the managers wanted to go in, then that was their decision. We followed them to the apartment and they opened the door, and Matt walked in with them to check on the tenant. They found him, laying on the ground in the kitchen. He couldn't talk,but was responsive (he could wiggle his toes and open his eyes), and it was apparent from the fluids around him that he had been there for several days. Matt was able to call an ambulance right away and talked to the man letting him know that help was on its way. This poor man had been alone in his apartment, with no air conditioning on, but thanks to observant apartment managers and neighbors, and thanks to Matt and the paramedics, it looked like the man was going to be okay. The paramedics indicated that the man probably wouldn't have lived until morning. I got a little teary as we walked back to the car. I think a lot of times, people only think of police officers writing tickets or catching "bad guys", but I just watched my husband help save a man's life!
Curry - Matt gets to deal with some interesting people on his job! Matt spoke to one lady on the phone who was convinced her upstairs neighbors didn't like her and that they were "scratching curry into the floor" and it was coming through her ceiling. She said they were doing it to be malicious because they didn't like her, and it made it hard for her to breathe. She told Matt that they were friends with the apartment manager, so the apartment manager wouldn't make her upstairs neighbors move, even though this lady had lived in her apartment longer than them. It was seriously so funny listen to her going on and on about them "scratching curry" into their floor. Matt had put her on speaker, and I was trying so hard no to laugh. But the best part was listening to how nice Matt was to her and how sympathetic he was. The lady just needed someone to vent to, and Matt let her vent! He suggested that she talk to the apartment manager to see if there was another unit available that she might be able to move to :-)
There were several other calls, including going lights and sirens to a car crash in the middle of an intersection during rush hour, responding to an apartment where the caller then proceeded to go get a gun when the officers showed up (they were trying to talk to her because she had called the cops asking for help from a situation the previous evening) and wouldn't put it down after being asked repeatedly to put the gun down (Matt had to pull the gun out of her hands), going to a call at a field where a bondsman found an abandoned car of someone he was trying to track down, etc. It was an exciting evening and I really enjoyed getting a feel for what Matt does every day. My love and appreciation for him grew, and I can't wait until I can go back out with him.
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