My Amazing Husband...

Josh sent me this e-mail yesterday...I have married an amazing man...The kids and I are blessed.

Enjoy!

Have you ever had that twinge feeling in your gut that something about a certain situation just doesn't seem right? You will not believe what happened on my run today…

I was out for my normal Thursday run over lunch. Today's route was going to be up Grand Ave to 63rd St. and back for an easy 8 miles. As I was approaching the corner of 40th and Grand, I noticed a little boy, probably no older than 3 and about the same size as Ty, standing on the corner of 41st and Grand. He was looking out at Grand Ave. I quickly scanned the area and there was no one else around; no other kids, no adults….nothing. As I continued my approach to the corner he was standing on, he started to slowly walk towards Grand Ave, like maybe he was going to try and cross the street! I thought, "Is that little guy going to try and cross the street?!?!". Sure enough, he kept inching towards Grand, you know how little kids do all timid and unsure. I was about half a block from him and just started sprinting fearing the worst. Realizing I wasn't going to make it to him by the time he reached the street, I jumped out on Grand Ave in the right-most on-coming traffic lane, waving my arms for traffic to move to the other lane and started yelling at the little guy. I was yelling for him to stop and wait for me. There is a large tree that partially blocks the view of cars at that corner, so I'm sure the oncoming drivers were wondering what the heck I was doing in traffic all the while not being able to see the little guy heading towards the street. I was getting honked and swerved at and I think one lady flipped me off. I got to the toddler right as he reached the curb and was able to grab him by the armpit and pull him back from the street. I couldn't believe it! This little boy, all by himself, was trying to cross Grand Ave in the middle of the day!! I looked around in a mild panic for his parents, or anyone for that matter, and didn't see anyone. I squatted down in front of the little guy and asked him where is parents where and his response was, "where's my mommy?" I felt so bad for him, he was obviously scared and cold, all he had on was a light coat over a short sleeve shirt (unzipped), warm-up pants and shoes with no socks. I asked him again where his mommy or daddy was and I got the same response, "where's my mommy?" After I zipped up his coat and gave him my stocking cap, I tried a different approach and asked him to show me where he lived and he pointed to the apartment building behind us, on the corner of 41st and Grand. About that time, a car had stopped and two older ladies got out; they had seen me yelling, waving and running in the road and asked if everything was OK. I explained to them the situation and together we all walked over to the apartment building the little guy had pointed at. I held his hand as we walked and kept trying to get him to tell me his name or where his parents were, but I kept getting the same response, "where's my mommy?" When we got the door of the apartment building, it was security locked, so I started ringing everyone's apartment on the call box. After two or three unanswered calls from apartments, a man answered and I explained the situation to him. Even though he was adamant that no children lived in the building, I was able to convince him to let us in to the entry way because it was cold. The man buzzed us in and met us in the entry way and I asked him if the little guy looked familiar or if there was anyone in the building that might be babysitting. Just hoping for something to help us figure out where the little guy's parents were. But, to no avail, none of us could figure out where he belonged. I even tried knocking on the other apartment doors with the little guy in tow just in case anyone recognized him. No on did. He was lost. I took the little guy back to the entry way where the two older gals and I decided it was time to call the police. As one of the gals, Karen, made the call, I was finally able to get the little guy to talk to me. I had him sit next to me on the stairs and I asked him if he liked Thomas the Train. Just like that, he started going on and on about his favorite engine, Edward. It reminded me a lot of when Spencer would light up and talk for minutes on end about Thomas and his friends. With him on a roll about trains and talking up a storm now, I tried one last time to get his name, but he didn't answer. He just asked me if I knew where his mommy was. It was heartbreaking to hear his little voice asking that question over and over. In the time it took the first officer to arrive, the little guy and I had covered Thomas, Bob the Builder, Spiderman and Batman. I had seen the cop car go by on Grand from the entry way, so I went out to flag the cop down. The cop parked on 41st and in the time it took us to get from his squad car back to the apartment building, I had filled him in on everything I knew. Including the near disaster that could have been had the little guy gotten into the street. I was actually surprised at how sympathetic the police officer, Officer Charlie Hegert, sounded and by the time we got to the entry way, he had already radioed for another unit to join him; an officer that specializes in lost little kids. And sure enough, after a few minutes another officer joined us at the apartment building. The female officer started right in with talking to the little guy and earning his trust (it was actually pretty amazing to see first-hand how quickly she connected with the little guy). She gave the little guy a sticker and let him give her a high five (I had told her that I had him give my five earlier to show he could trust me). Both officers took my contact information down, as well as the other two older ladies that had stopped. As a last ditch effort before taking the little guy to DHS, I helped the two officers knock on doors of the adjoining apartment building behind the one we were in. Just in case the little guy had wondered away from there. No luck. He was still lost. I waited as the female officer loaded the little guy into a toddler seat in the back of her cruiser before I headed back downtown.

I was actually saddened by the whole experience. From the rush of preventing a horrible accident, to the shocking reality that this little boy was really lost, to the sadness of not being able to find the boys parents and ending with hearing the officer refer to the little guy as "Little John Doe" over the radio. As I was walking away from the female officer's car, I told her that the one thing that bothers me the most about the whole situation was that in the 40 minutes I had been there, there was no one running around wild and frantic yelling the boy's name in a panic looking for him. She responded by thanking me for stopping to help, stating that some people would've just kept running by. She said to me, "It's nice to know that there are still some people out there putting faith back into humanity".

Those words rang in my head all the way back to the office. I'm going to call DMPD tomorrow and ask if the little guy's family had been located or if someone has come forward.