My Husband, the Hero. 12.19.2009

Now it seems that it was only a bad dream. Last night Tyler and I were driving home from a Christmas Party and four guys on motorcycles passed us on 610 doing about 90 mph. The men were being extremely wreckless, going between cars and being crazy. I was just saying to Tyler that I couldn't believe that they could maintain control at that speed when one of them hit a car that was changing lanes and wrecked. Fortunately we were behind him and didn't have to see the whole thing. However we had to swerve out of the way to not hit his body. I have never had that feeling before.  Frantic. Cold. Helpless. The feeling someone was being sucked into eternity. 

Tyler is an EMT and decided to pull over.  We were the second people on the scene. The girl driving next to us was an off duty firefighter and pulled over to help as well.  I remained in the car while Tyler and the firefighter tried to stabilize the dying man. It was a horrific sight. (I must add in here that our society has become numb to the idea of appropriateness on twitter, etc. One of my first instincts was to take a picture of his bike which sat next to me on the interstate.) WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!!!??? Anyhow, there he lay in the middle lane of 610, Tyler holding him, while the traffic came to a stop to see if the man would live. He didn't. 

The paramedics arrived on the scene a little more than five minutes later and the man was pronounced dead. I mentioned before that four guys were riding and only one was hit.  Only one of his friends stopped to check on him. He was drunk and had to be asked to back away, so he got on his bike and rode off. How sad. How tragic.

After the paramedics arrived Tyler got into the car and we continued our drive home. He was so calm, so collected. In my mind I heard Sara, my best friend, saying something she told me years ago when Tyler was on the rescue team in CO. "Leslianne, Tyler is a hero."  I laughed and thought it was true, but so dramatic. Now I must agree. Night after night while I was cozy in my bed Tyler was repelling off 1000 foot cliffs to rescue a hikers, pulling people out of the rubble of wreckage when their cars couldn't fight the snow, searching for weeks on end for people that lose their way on the mountain. Countless people died in his arms. How people in the medical profession see tragedy day after day and remain sane? I will never know.  All I do know is that I drove away and prayed for the man's soul. That somewhere along the way someone shared Jesus with him. That he had received Him into his life...

I was proud. A very proud wife. Tyler somehow has the capacity to serve the Lord out of an abundance of love for Him, with tenderness of heart and yet have the stoutness to pull someone out of the wreckage and try to save their life. That is my husband, the hero.