A Surprise Kindness

I first met Ron when I was in the DeKalb County Police Academy in the Winter of 1994. It happened that we lived nearby each other, and we started carpooling for the 30 minute ride out and back to Lithinia for the 22 weeks that it took to get through a fairly rigorous training process.

Ron and I are very different people. Ron is a former Marine Embassy Guard who was/is physically invincible. I never saw the guy get worn out even though we went through some very punishing physical training.

There was a tradition (I think it's (unwisely) not practiced any more) called "Fight Day." It was a day where we were run-around, and exhausted for hours, and then told to don boxing gloves and headgear to show how hard it was to engage in hand-to-hand combat when otherwise exhausted.

Ron and I ended up fighting, and as I had taken karate for a couple of years, I thought I would be able to hold my own.
He was like the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes, and he beat the crap out of me. There wasn't any malice. It was all business, and we both knew it.
To my credit, I took it all and didn't go down, but it was pretty ugly on my part. I think there's a video of the fight somewhere, but I'd just as soon not see it again.

Ron and I have stayed in touch in the years after I moved on from the Police Department, and Ron became a Federal Air Marshall after 9/11. He now flies all over the world, meet world leaders, protects dignitaries, and waits for a terrorist to act up on an airplane, so he can shoot them in the head.
And trust me, if you are a passenger on that plane, you want someone like Ron to handle the situation.

So how does all this tie in to Cathy and her status?
Ron now lives in Chicago, but we talk every week or so, and I told him about Cathy. Ron has kept in touch all week to check out her status, and told me to call his parents, who live near my parents, if we needed any help.
I thanked him, of course, and told him that, for right now, we had everything covered.

Friday afternoon, Ron's Mom and Dad, who had never met Cathy, showed up at the hospital with flowers and a book, and plenty of good cheer.
Ron comes from good stock, and we are blessed to have him on our side.

Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Otero for offering your time, kindness, and prayers for us!