When our 21 year-old daughter came home from her park ranger intern job last night she looked physically and emotionally drained, and I became concerned.
She came up and hugged me for a long time. I haven’t had a, “I need a hug, Daddy, please comfort me and make the world go away” hug like that in a long time. I loved it.
But while I gave her my best strong “Daddy is here, you’re safe, and it will all be OK” hug, my concern turned to alarm at the thought that perhaps she was having a severe relapse. Flashes of blood transfusions, long stays in the intensive care unit, and worse, started going off in my head.
So it was with great relief when she said while still hugging me tightly that she and her ranger mentor had responded to a bad car accident involving four 17 year-olds. One was so badly hurt that she had to hold his head firmly to avoid further possible spinal damage while they lifted him onto the stretcher to be MedEvac’d (flown out by helicopter) for emergency treatment.
She’d been trained as a First Responder and knew what to do, but it’s all only theory until one has their first real-life experience with such situations.
She did what she was supposed to do the way she was supposed to do it.
I’m proud of my little girl, uh, I mean confident and capable young woman.
Russ
Russ Towne's A Grateful Man 
I’m really glad she’s okay, Russ. Those first responder situations can be really tough and I’m glad you were there to comfort her. Sounds like she is a remarkable young woman.
Cathy
Thank you, Cathy. She is.
Russ
She sounds like a great daughter
She is indeed, Boomie. Thank you!
Russ
They never stop being our babies. 🙂
So true, MoJo!
Russ
It’s ok to say your little girl…she’ll always be daddy’s little girl! Good for her and I’m glad she was there to help. 🙂
Thank you, Diana. I agree; she’ll always be my little girl, and I wanted to acknowledge the wonderful young woman she has become.
Russ
She’ll always be both. What a wonderful person!
Yes indeed! Thank you, Elyse!
Russ
Yes I can imagine you pride in her, and it is great when they turn to daddy for comfort when it is needed as a parent we love to know that we can give our child a hug and it will make them feel better for a few minutes at least………..
Thank you, Jo-Anne. And I’m aware that any hug could be my last hug with her so each is all the more sweet. Whenever the last one comes, I want it to be so special that it lasts her for a lifetime.
Russ
You have every right to be proud of her. I call my children my babies, even though the eldest is 19…needless to say they find it quite amusing 🙂
*hugs*
Thank you! It is good to hear from you. What would you prefer for me to call you? HH doesn’t sound right.
Russ
My name is Michelle 🙂
Thank you, Michelle. That is a pretty name. Would you prefer that I not include your name iwhen I’m communicating with you on your blog and/or mine? I know that many bloggers prefer to remain anonymous or to use a pen name and I wish to respect whatever each chooses for their own situation.
Russ
No problem at all Russ. I don’t mind you using my name on comments all all 🙂
Great! Thank you, Michelle. It feels more personal to me in this “impersonal” media to be able to refer to someone by name.
Russ
I fully understand and know what you mean 🙂
What a girl! She’s lucky to have that kind of hug within her reaches. She sound wonderful you must be proud. I hope that person was OK. Jen
Thank you, Jen. I’m glad to have “met” youvia our posts and comments.
Russ
And the same here. But why am I still up?
It’s about 11:12am in California. What time is it where you live?
You don’t want to know. I think I forgot to go to bed…I have been writing (surprise). It’s pointless now as I have to get up and take the boys to school in only a couple of hours!…er 4.20am..not the norm for me at all.
It has been my experience that if I’m not worrying about something then staying up into the early morning hours is a sign that I’m following my passion. May that be true for you too–so long as your passion doesn’t make you lose so much sleep that you can’t function when the sun comes up! Good luck!
Russ
Hit the nail on the head there boyo! But I think I’m starting to lose cohesion about now!
Yes, when your eyes blur, and you have to squint to see the screen, and you have a hard time putting a cohesive sentence together, those are usually excellent signs that it is time to BACK AWAY FROM YOUR COMPUTER and do something else for awhile! (Like taking a quick nap before rousting your kids out of bed for school…) ;-D!
Russ