Personal Narrative: My Trip To Walt Disney World
"What it Means to me to Have my Parent or Guardian Involved in Securing our Community"
I’ll admit that I took for granted the sacrifices that my police officer father has made over the years for me and my mom. All of the overtime hours worked, the holidays and family celebrations missed, and the extra off duty jobs he took to support our family and give me an unforgettable childhood went too often unnoticed. But my perspective changed on an ordinary summer night in 2008. I lay in bed dreaming about my family’s upcoming trip to Walt Disney World. A couple of hours before, my dad had left our home to work his third shift job as a lieutenant at the Athens Police Department. At around eleven p.m., a simple phone call changed the way our family viewed life. My dad was on the other end of the line calmly telling my mom that he had been shot and was being transported by helicopter to a hospital in a nearby town. The events that took place in the moments afterward are all a blur. Mom frantically called my aunt, who rushed to our house to drive my mom and me to the hospital. Mom came in my room and yelled, “Get dressed, we have to go to the hospital!” Not until we were halfway to our destination did I realize what had happened. Hurriedly calling a relative on her cell phone, I overheard mom tell them that my dad …show more content…
I realize the events of that night could have turned out much worse. Four years before, two of my father’s friends and fellow officers were ambushed and killed when they arrived on a call to a home of a mental health patient. The days that followed were a sombering time for our law enforcement family and our entire community. These two brave husbands, fathers and grandfathers were taken way too soon by a senseless act of violence. Recalling that horrible day, I thanked God that morning that I was able to walk with my dad out of the
I’ll admit that I took for granted the sacrifices that my police officer father has made over the years for me and my mom. All of the overtime hours worked, the holidays and family celebrations missed, and the extra off duty jobs he took to support our family and give me an unforgettable childhood went too often unnoticed. But my perspective changed on an ordinary summer night in 2008. I lay in bed dreaming about my family’s upcoming trip to Walt Disney World. A couple of hours before, my dad had left our home to work his third shift job as a lieutenant at the Athens Police Department. At around eleven p.m., a simple phone call changed the way our family viewed life. My dad was on the other end of the line calmly telling my mom that he had been shot and was being transported by helicopter to a hospital in a nearby town. The events that took place in the moments afterward are all a blur. Mom frantically called my aunt, who rushed to our house to drive my mom and me to the hospital. Mom came in my room and yelled, “Get dressed, we have to go to the hospital!” Not until we were halfway to our destination did I realize what had happened. Hurriedly calling a relative on her cell phone, I overheard mom tell them that my dad …show more content…
I realize the events of that night could have turned out much worse. Four years before, two of my father’s friends and fellow officers were ambushed and killed when they arrived on a call to a home of a mental health patient. The days that followed were a sombering time for our law enforcement family and our entire community. These two brave husbands, fathers and grandfathers were taken way too soon by a senseless act of violence. Recalling that horrible day, I thanked God that morning that I was able to walk with my dad out of the