My Hero

My husband is my hero. I have never been more in awe of him than I was on Friday and every time I think about that day.

We were on vacation. This is a time of relaxation and us being off the grid. I hadn't thought about work in a week. Work was the furthest thing from my mind. Work should have been the furthest thing from Travis' mind but I guess when you are a Firefighter/EMT you are never truly off duty.


We were in the hotel pool, playing with our kids, having a beer when I hear a woman start screaming. I have to be honest, when I first heard the screaming, I thought "WTF? Why the hell is that woman screaming?" It turns out that a little boy was drowning. I don't know if the screaming woman was the little boy's mom or a stranger, but if she hadn't started screaming this story may not have such a happy ending. Apparently, the little boy had been playing with the diving sticks, or that is what I heard, when he started to drown. No one knows how long he was under but someone pulled him out and Travis preformed CPR. He was doing compressions and another pool goer who happened to be a nurse was doing mouth to mouth. All I could see was a small pair of feet and legs sticking out of the crowd.

I couldn't watch and I didn't want to. All around me people were crying. A lot of the people stood around and watched the drama. I grabbed the kids and walked to the beach. Hudson, who is very observant, kept asking me what was going on. I just told him that there was an emergency and Daddy had to help. I tried to keep them distracted but it was really hard, especially since I could barely stand up. When I heard the ambulance sirens, my knees almost buckled. I couldn't think straight and I was shaking. I wouldn't let go of Hudson and Paige's hands and they couldn't understand why. I could tell that word of the accident was spreading by watching the people on the beach. They were standing in clusters talking and kept looking back at our hotel. It seemed like an eternity before Travis came to find me and the kids.

He finally found us and it seemed like a full 5 minutes before he told me the boy was OK. I am sure it was only like 5 seconds but he couldn't tell me fast enough. It took six rounds of CPR but Travis finally got his pulse back. He was breathing on his own but was still unresponsive when the ambulance took him to the hospital. As soon as Trav told me he had a pulse, I started crying. I couldn't stand the thought of someone almost losing a child. The hotel confirmed that he was released the next day and he was perfectly fine. I don't know that boy or his parents but I am so glad that my husband saved their lives - all of theirs. I couldn't have done that. He was so calm and knew exactly what to do. That is his job, I get that, but I have never seen him do that before. My husband saved some one's life. That little boy has a future because of Travis. His parents will always be grateful to my husband. He is a hero to many, not just me.

We told the kids what happened, but they don't understand. This is something that they won't be able to understand until they have children of their own and I hope they never fully understand. My children are an extension of my being. I live inside them and they live inside me. I imagine all parents feel that way. My husband preserved that for complete strangers. He is amazing. He is and always will be my hero.