This morning started not unlike other mornings. Except that I forgot it was Wednesday and I got my youngest up 45 minutes earlier than needed. I was on autopilot and had in mind, "get the child up and ready for school". But, it's Wednesday. That means it's chorus practice day. That means she needs to be at school an hour early. On normal days, I get her up even earlier to take her to the place where she stays before and after school. On Wednesdays, I get her up later and take her directly to the school for practice an hour before school starts.
But, not today. Today I got her up early so we had time to burn. She asked if we could eat breakfast together. I said yes and we went to my favorite fast food place, Chick-fil-A.
Note: I will not argue politics about Chick-fil-A because it is one of the best places to eat and the people are amazingly friendly and courteous and I love it so just back off.
Anyway, it was a normal-ish morning and I did not expect my morning at Chick-fil-A to be so out of the ordinary. My youngest and I sat at my usual spot in the back booth by the restrooms. A couple of the staff chatted with me briefly. Most of them know me there. I'm there a lot. And all of the staff at my local Chick-fil-A are wonderful and amazing people. Most are young and they are definitely a cut above their peers.
One of the young ladies that I know there was sitting in a booth - like they often do during breaks - and she looked like she didn't feel well. She got up and headed toward the restroom when suddenly her arm slackened and she dropped her phone. She then crumpled to the floor literally right in front of me. She just folded down onto the floor and smacked her head on the tiles.
I immediately went into full-on "dad-mode" and jumped out of my seat to see what I could do. She was out cold and some blood pooled from her nose. I tried speaking to her to get a response. After a dozen seconds, she opened her eyes and blinked. I could see the confusion on her face, she was still not aware of what was happening.
I yelled at a guy across the room to get a manager and one of the other employees came. About 45 seconds after the fall, the young lady blinked her eyes again and you could see she was back.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You fell, sweetie. Just stay right here while we get someone to help," I said. And I said sweetie because I was in dad-mode at the moment and this twenty-something woman was to me just as precious as one of my own daughters. Not sorry if that offends anyone.
She looked around and asked again, "What happened?"
The other employee and I both told her she fell and that help was on the way. We kept her from getting up because, at this point, we had no idea what was going on. I jumped into the men's room a moment to grab some paper towels to wipe the blood from her nose and cheek.
A police officer was in the parking lot and someone went to get him. He came and took over the situation because police offers are just like that: permanent dad-mode. An ambulance was called and we got the young lady to a seat. She was lucid and from all appearances, she had merely fainted.
Also from all appearances, she cut her nose and possibly had broken it when she hit the floor. She also had a large swelling on her brow ridge.
The EMTs arrived and took her out in a gurney to check her out in the ambulance. She was up and walking a few minutes later and eating a chicken sandwich which was a really good sign that she was going to be okay. The coworker was going to drive her home and she definitely needed to follow up with what happened.
Throughout all this, my 11-year-old daughter sat in the booth and said nothing. She also didn't react as if scared or upset. She told me, "There wasn't anything I could do to help so I just sat here."
I looked at my wonderful loving daughter and said, "Sweetie, you did help. You didn't get upset or scared. You didn't get excited and you remained calm. That was exactly what we all needed at that point. Calm. You did great."
As the police officer was leaving, I said, "Officer, thank you for all you do."
He looked at me earnestly and said, "It's only what we all should do. We all need to take care of each other and help when needed. Thank you."
I know that my youngest is going to have some stories to tell today in school and that's cool. She told me she was going to tell her teacher about the girl that fell and how her daddy helped her afterward. You know, I think my little girl is my biggest fan and if she were my only fan, that's enough for me.
I hope that all who read any of this don't think I'm bragging or propping myself up. I'm not. I want to illustrate to everyone that there are millions of dads out there more than ready to come to the aid of those that need help. We men aren't so bad when you think about it. We can tell bad jokes and be over the top, but when you need help, you want a real man in dad-mode.
As a father of 6 - and 5 of them are daughters - it was definitely an exciting morning. Lord, I ask that you bless that young lady and heal her nose and forehead. I especially ask that you fix whatever it was that happened to her to cause this. Thank you, God, that she wasn't behind the wheel of a car when it happened.
To all the folks at the Chick-fil-A in Wake Forest, NC, I love you guys and I'd do the same for any of you that needed help.
Have a blessed day.
