Bosque County Deputy of the Year....

Talk about a whirlwind trip! We found out about 3 weeks ago that my sweet Father-in-law was chosen as the Bosque County Sheriff's Deputy of the Year. What a wonderful honor! But it gets better. The Texas Rangers baseball team honors the police and fire personnel from all over the state at a game each year. Terry was among those this season. Well, we had to be there for that, of course!! It's a huge, huge deal!! We really wanted to be there to share in such a great moment. So, Thursday morning we packed up the 4Runner and made the 12 1/2 hour drive. A trip we'll repeat in the morning as we head home.

Luke is such a wonderful traveler. He got a little cranky at one point, but calmed right down after a quick rest stop. He's done quite a bit of traveling with us, so he's seasoned at 2, but it's just a nice thing to know that he does so well with minimal effort on our part. We, on the other hand, were more than ready to be done with the driving.

Friday morning saw us clamoring out to get my dear, retired jumper so she could pack my boy around for a little bit. I'll tell the story about that in another post, but Luke and Dusty were both fantastic.

The ride over, we came in and showered. Now, one has to realize that showering during August in Texas is....pointless. But we did it, got ready real quick, hopped in the car, and headed for Ranger Stadium in Arlington. The stadium is right across the way from the new Cowboys Stadium, which is still under construction. Holy cow! That thing is HUGE!!! Of course, we had to park in the spot nearest to that thing, and the longest walk from the ball field. That's fine, the exercise was nice.

We made a stop to see about getting Luke a jersey with Josh Hamilton's name on it. Nope. Sorry, I can't spend $50 for a toddler jersey! But we did get to play a moment in the mister fans. Then it was on up to find our seats. It wasn't difficult, there was a contingent of about 40 people, about half being family, made things obvious.

I mention the people because it was us, Jeff's parents (duh), Jeff's brother, my father-in-law's mother (Great-grandma Flory), siblings that still live in the area, nieces, nephews, brother- and sister-in law, and further extended family as well as friends from church and his incredible teaching career. We took up quite a big area of one section. And we were loud.

Terry, of course, was somewhere in the bowels of the stadium waiting for his turn to take the field. The names of the personnel being honored were scrolled on the jumbotron, and let me tell you that the entire stadium was well aware when Terry's name scrolled through! Right about that point is when the 50 firefighters and police were marched onto the field. Cheers abound!

Terry was the last to appear from the tunnel, and we were very loud again. Each person was given a commemorative baseball and a handshake from the State Representative in attendance. Then it was announced that 5 of those honored were the ones on hand a short time ago when a fan had an emergency. They saved her life.

I just noticed "my" hat on his belt!

After this it was announced that Terry was among 3 of the personnel chosen to throw out the first pitch. The only lefty! He proudly strutted to the pitcher's mound, had to shave some distance for some unknown reason, and threw a great pitch to his catcher. We cheered and cheered!

Not sure how we missed the pitch

Terry and the others made their way back to the lineup, turned toward the flag while we enjoyed the playing of the National Anthem, sung by yet another cop, and the proudly marched the entire group off the field. He looked up at his cheering section, where I'm happy to say his one and only grandchild was being held up by me so Grandpa could see him waving and clapping (I'm being serious!), smiled, waved, and puffed his chest out.

Waving at Luke

He came shortly after to sit with us. He had surgery for an injury the day before, so didn't stay too long, but was so happy about his night. We stayed, along with most of our group, for the duration of the game. Luke had a ball, we had a ball, and we all melted. The Rangers unfortunately lost to the Indians, but it was a tough battle and we know they tried. Our drive back to Iredell was an adventure, but a pleasant one, especially with Jeff's brother joining us. We'll laugh for a long time over that drive! We had great dreams, and we are so happy we could make this unexpected trip.

Clapping away!
Great-Grandma Flory, Terry's mom
You can see we've melted

Terry said today that it was his fairy-tale night. He's just completely blown away. He should be! This is an INCREDIBLE honor! We are so very, very proud of him. It certainly is something I think the rest of the world should know about. Bosque County has an amazing man looking out for it.

Congratulations, Deputy Flory! You are one-of-a-kind, and we love you!