It's been 19 years and I have a Hero, part 5

The real hero is always a hero by mistake. <------ Truth.

The time has come for me to tell you all about "Military Boots". Who was this mystery man and where did he come from? Was he medical personnel? Did someone order him to help? Was it his job? The answer to all these questions will amaze you. I'm going to do the best I can to write this from his perspective. Pretend this is him telling the story. "It was a normal Tuesday afternoon. I finished up work and was headed to pick my daughter up for golf practice. I was driving along the interstate when I saw sparks. They were coming from a school bus that was flipped on it's side, skidding down the road. Without thinking, I pulled my car over and ran to the scene. There were kids piling out of the back of the bus like a swarm of bees. They were all screaming and crying. I finally made my way around them and entered the bus. There were two adults and a couple kids standing over another child. They were pulling on her left arm, yelling at her to get up. She was obviously not going anywhere. I quickly advised them to get the hell out of the bus and let me handle things. My adrenaline was flowing full force. One minute I had been driving to pick up my daughter and the next minute I'm standing over this little girl in a wrecked school bus. I backed off for a couple seconds and assessed the situation. It didn't look good. She was laying in a pool of blood and gas. The front of the bus was smoking and was going to catch fire soon. I would be okay because I was wearing my fire proof flight suite. Never mind me though, I had to get her out. Now. This shit was serious. She was pinned under the window frame. Her arm was still attached but just barley. The only way she was getting out of there was to lift the bus up. It had to be done and there was no way around it. Luckily, the wreck happened in front of a car dealership and many of car salesmen had come out to help. They were lined up, waiting for direction. On the count of three, they were to lift the bus up just enough for me to pull her out. I approached the little girl, told her to put her left arm around me and I was going to get her out. She said that there was no way. I didn't know why she was arguing with me. She needed to listen if I was going to get her out of here. I told her again and added that on the count of three, I would carry her out. I counted to three, held my breath that they would be able to lift it, they did but not all the way. Plus, when they set it back down, they set it on my foot. Damnit. Let's do this again, people. 1, 2, 3, and it was lifted. I pulled her arm out very quickly but with care. Blood started shooting EVERYWHERE. It was flowing out like I had never seen before. Her being pinned under that bus was actually keeping her from bleeding as much. There was a lot of help, waiting on the outside. Royally pissed me off though because I had to give paramedics time to prepare themselves...they were afraid of getting HIV. Seriously?!?! She's ten, the chance of her having HIV is really slim. Grow a pair. Someone was taking off their shirt to tie around her arm to slow the bleeding. There were folks assisting the other kids. It was a mad house. After the paramedics and firemen finally arrived, I sat down for a second. Those four minutes had seemed like four hours and I was exhausted. Completely, 100%, worn out. The little girl had been taken away in an ambulance and here I was. What do I do now? How could I possibly go on with my day? A fireman approached me and asked where had I been hurt. I said, no where, why? He pointed at me, I looked down and saw that I was covered in blood. It was everywhere. I literally looked like I had bled more than the small girl. I stood up and he hosed me down. All the blood was washed away like it never even happened. If only it were that easy to wash away the memories. Someone hose down my heart. It's broken. I proceeded with the rest of my day. My daughter grilled me for being late before she realized I was soaking wet. When she asked me what happened, I simply told her, I think I just saved some one's life. I had to work pretty hard for the hospital to let me speak with her parents. They weren't taking any calls. I just wanted to know if she was okay. Finally, I was able to get through. They were SO grateful to speak with me and invited me to come see her. Her name was Samantha. It was a good day." So there you have it, ladies and gents. "Military Boots" aka: Jim or The Colonel, is a real life hero. Who else can say they have a real, genuine hero? Someone that actually saved you from something horrible. He never asked to be in that situation. No one told him to stop and help. It was most def not his job. He was sent by my angels. I like to think his angels and my angels were cooking up this plan for some time. They made sure we were both in the right place at the right time. It couldn't have worked any other way. And yes, I indeed was in the right place at the right time. I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to save me. NO ONE. It was supposed to be him. My Jim. My hero. My military boots. I am beyond blessed to say, we are still in one another's life, to this day. We make a point to meet up every few months. He was at my graduation, he was at my wedding and he was there shortly after Kaleb was born. All of these things wouldn't have been possible if not for him. When I'm around him, I still feel protected. I feel like nothing bad will ever happen to me, as long as he is there. That might be silly to say but it's so true! We just had an amazing dinner together, tonight, to more or less, celebrate the day we met. It's not a sad story. It's a great story and we love to talk about it. I'll never be able to repay him for what he has done...and it's been a lot throughout the years. I did give him a gift tonight though, pictured at the bottom, and it has all the different meaning of hero on it. I'm pretty positive he he loved it. :) We are two peas in a pod, he and I. We'll be connected forever, in a way that no one can touch. Love that man. Here we are.

I have 1 last post coming. It's going to wrap everything up, for real this time. I can't thank everyone enough for all the kind words and dedicated readers! It's so much more than I ever imagined and you just have no idea how great this process has been. See ya soon!