I walked out to the ambulance, like I do for any call, obviously with no idea just how different this call would be for me. To this day I don't remember much of the call itself. What I do remember is that before I could make it to the driveway, I noticed a handsome first responder in the glow of my headlights. Yes, I may have almost missed my turn and hit him...that's beside the point. During the call all I could think about was “I’ve got to know his name.” Never before have I been flustered by any man let alone one who I didn’t know his name! At the end of the call I decided to ask my partner about him. He informed me his name was Coleman Gavel, also known as Captain Gavel's son. The next morning Captain Gavel asked me if I still needed help with my car. I replied "yes" and that I would appreciate any help he could give me. He said he could get it fixed, he just needed my number. I gave him my cell and he replies back "Great! I'll have Coleman get in touch with you." I looked straight at my partner speechless, realizing I had just been set up with the handsome man who I almost hit. Few weeks later, I realized Coleman wasn't going to take anything but dinner for fixing my car, I agreed to do dinner at his place. "Great, now the attractive man can cook" was my first thought, even if I wanted to say no, how could I? I did almost hit him... Throughout the night I tried to play like this was no big deal, after all this wasn't a "date" I owed him dinner! I wanted to fight what I was feeling, but Truth be told, Coleman stole my heart that night and he had no idea. I remember clearly him asking "If you want to hang out again you have my number." all I could think is this man had no clue what he got himself into, neither of us did! Who knew that statement would lead to many ice cream dates, even more late night talks, plenty of dinners, then to buying a house and getting married! Here's to the future Gavels!

During one of the darkest periods in my life, my life saving miracle came out of nowhere, no pun intended. I was praying to God for a light at the end of the tunnel, for a person to save me from my self-destruction. Little did I know, one small emergency medical call on a Friday night would change my life for the better. I am the first one to arrive at the residence and I walk up to the side of the road. Then unbeknown to me, I see the light at the so called “end of the tunnel”, but the light wasn’t from the end of the tunnel. There was no tunnel at all, in fact there was more than just one light. The light I saw was coming down the road at me, a mixture of headlights and flashing red and blue, with a siren wailing. As I’m watching the ambulance get closer, I hear the engine redline, and the tires brake loose on the county gravel road. I throw my arm in the air to signal that they need to slow down and this was the destination. I imagine I had the deer in the headlights look on my face, because that is pretty much what I felt like. The driver saw me last second and stood on the brakes, locking the wheels up with a giant cloud of dust and the sound of a six ton box sliding on gravel. I almost got smoked by an ambulance.

As soon as they get in the driveway and put it in park, I open the back doors to start getting equipment out. I turn around and that’s when I see the beautiful, Autobahn qualifying, blue-eyed brunette that was behind the wheel of that box shaped missile. In the back of the ambulance, I tried my hardest to try and impress her with my subpar medical skills, which come to find out I was not helping my case. The next day at the station, she was talking about how her car needed a new serpentine belt. My father over heard the conversation and said he would give her a number to call for a guy to replace it. He gave her the number of the guy she almost trucked on the side of the road the night before. The first few texts were kind of awkward at first, you could understand why. I went and got the belt and replaced it for her at the station. She was on a call when I was done so I just left and carried on my business. Later that evening, when she had some free time she sent me a message and was wanting to repay me. The only way I said she could repay me is by going to dinner with me. She finally agreed, and we ended up making homemade pizza at my house as our first date, even though she doesn’t want to call it a first date. The rest is history; the next chapter begins at the end of the aisle.