Touching, hopefully, somone again...

Tonight I had one of "those" calls... And spent half an hour trying to have a conversation with a sometimes hysterical, sometimes off-the-wall, sometimes lucid, but definitely always intoxicated, lady - while the members were trying to find her house way out in some country estates. She was having problems with her "other half" who was high and destroying the little cabin they were living in. She was so scared she begged me to stay on the phone with her. It's a challenge that I dread in one respect but like to rise to, in another. It's easier, always easier, to just "get the facts" and disconnect. Don't get involved in their pain. And we have a perfect right to do that - in fact, that's what we are supposed to do. To stay and talk involves you in a whole different dimension with the victim and I find those calls much harder to recover and walk away from. We talked for about 35 minutes and there were times when I prayed that I would know what to say to her. She was rambling, condemning herself for getting involved with the party in question, trying to get me to agree with her about the hopelessness and despair of the sad thing that was her life. I refused to do that because it was the last thing she needed, but mentally strained to think of what on earth I might have in common with this dear lady - something we could talk about that would take her mind of what was happening to her right now, something that could offer her hope and then I hit on it (answer to prayer- thank you, Lord!)... I asked her if she had grandchildren. The change in her voice, the choked-back emotion that, even though she was intoxicated, she couldn't hide. The rest of the time was spent talking about the little ones that she seldom saw but who affected her life, none the less. I chose to encourage her to make changes in her life for them and it seemed to impact her. The very least it did was pass the time until the members got on scene and I was able to say goodbye to her...

Another first for me today, as well! Because our police cars have GPS, I was able to, by looking at them on a computerized map, guide one member to where the other one was! They were both heading to a rural scene and one took a road the other hadn't seen and the second car couldn't find the first. I was, by phone, able to guide the lost member to his partner! "Nope, go back a few more miles...okay, the turn should be coming up on your left...do you see it?" "Okay, follow that road, then turn left coming into the area, keep going and you should see him there...." Ha ha - it was, like I said, a really different and exciting way for me to support our guys out there!