On Saturday, I was at my mother-in-law’s house. She lives near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA. I did a lot of maintenance work on her house and landscaping. I tell ya, manually trimming 50 shrubs is no fun, but alas, it got done.<\/p>\n
By late afternoon, my chores were completed and I was in her kitchen preparing dinner. Oh — that too. My MIL does not cook any more.<\/p>\n
While we were eating, my cell phone rang. I immediately jumped because I remain worried about my spouse, so I thought my brother was calling to report something had gone wrong back home. Nope — instead, it was a sergeant, a motor officer, from the local PD.<\/p>\n
“Hey, you want to join me to ride escort tonight?”
\n
\nThe caller was a friend of mine who I have known for years, but I did not know that he even knew that I was in town. However, I forget — he “lurks” me on a certain social media platform. I had mentioned there that I was going to be in da ‘Burgh for the day.<\/p>\n
I said, “You know that I’m not a cop; what are you talking about?”<\/p>\n
He said that he had been following the trials I have been dealing with regarding my spouse’s recent health setback, and even that I had to drive to Pittsburgh to take care of some things for my mother-in-law. He thought that I could use a break.<\/p>\n
“I’ve got tickets to tonight’s baseball game between our team and your hometown team. But even better, I think you would enjoy escorting some WWII veterans with us. I have it all set up — just let me come get you and I’ll take care of everything.”<\/p>\n
Me: “um, okay, sure, why not?”<\/p>\n
![\"Bootsmap12\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Bootsmap12-282x300.jpg?resize=282%2C300\")
Soon enough, my friend arrived and took me to his house. He lent me a pair of breeches, Chippewa Hi-Shine boots, and a nice leather jacket. The gear fit fine! Then he took me to his garage and said, “you can ride this,” pointing to an ’08 Harley Police Road King motorcycle. He had purchased this bike when it was retired — replaced with a new model, which he rides now.<\/p>\n
Let me make it clear — there were no insignia on the motorcycle or the gear. I was a guest of a cop, but not pretending to be one.<\/p>\n
I was astonished … me, a lowly civilian, riding on a police motorcycle pulling an unofficial escort.<\/p>\n
I hopped on the Harley and my friend led me to a parking lot where other cops were staging the escort. We were introduced to a dozen veterans from World War II who were going to be escorted into a baseball game being played that night. The vets were about my Dad’s age, if my father were still alive. I truly enjoyed meeting them.<\/p>\n
The vets were seated in convertibles. Their drivers drove them toward the stadium while my friend, his colleagues, and I rode in front to lead the procession. These gentlemen were driven right into the stadium. It was cool to lead them and ride this (short) ride.<\/p>\n
We cheered these vets and paid respects to all members of the military for Memorial Day. Quite fitting tribute, as it should be. <\/p>\n
We had reserved seating for the game, which was cool. I even enjoyed watching it, though their team beat mine. \ud83d\ude41 <\/p>\n
At the end of the evening, my friend begged off going out afterwords with his friends because he knew that I had to get back. It was late (by my standards) and I was dead tired. But I had the biggest smile on my face.<\/p>\n
It was great that this friend went out of his way to show me a good time. He knew that I was stressed from caring for my spouse and his mother, and found a way to work in a visit and have a lot of fun!<\/p>\n
No photos of me? Nope… I do not have a mobile device that takes pictures, and I did not bring my digital camera. Who would have thought that I would need a camera to mow a lawn, trim hedges, plant plants, and stuff like that? The photo above was taken of my friend’s boot at another time; I just happened to have that photo on my computer.<\/p>\n
Life is short: find ways to give caregivers a fun break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Saturday, I was at my mother-in-law’s house. She lives near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA. I did a lot of maintenance work on her house and landscaping. I tell ya, manually trimming 50 shrubs is no fun, but alas, it got … Continue reading