{"id":115360,"date":"2025-02-28T11:05:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T04:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/?p=115360"},"modified":"2025-02-28T11:05:44","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T04:05:44","slug":"sometimes-the-ones-we-love-find-ways-to-remind-us-that-were","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/sometimes-the-ones-we-love-find-ways-to-remind-us-that-were\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes, the ones we love find ways to remind us that we\u2019re&hellip;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes, the ones we love find ways to remind us that we\u2019re never truly alone.\n</p><p>Working at a small diner means sometimes finding last-minute solutions for childcare. My babysitter canceled, so I brought my four-year-old son, Micah, with me to work. It was Halloween, and he was excited to wear his firefighter costume\u2014red helmet, coat, and all. I set him up with crayons and a grilled cheese at a booth, reminding him to stay put while I worked during the dinner rush.\n</p><p>At some point, between refilling coffee and taking orders, I looked over\u2014and he was gone.\n</p><p>Panic hit me instantly. I called his name, rushed to the backroom, and checked under the tables. Nothing. My heart pounded as I ran toward the kitchen, thinking he might have wandered in.\n</p><p>And that\u2019s when I saw him.<br>\n<img fetchpriority='\"high\"' decoding='\"async\"' src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/justmetalking.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/02%5C/never-truly-alone.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"512\"' height='\"640\"' class='\"aligncenter' size-full wp-image-115363 was in the arms of a real firefighter tall man still his uniform. but wasn just holding him crying. silent tears rolled down face as he clutched my son to chest. kitchen went silent. cook dishwasher and even couple customers peeking from counter all watched. ran toward them before i could speak micah looked up at said clearly okay. you saved them. daddy says hero. took shaky breath. grip on tightened for moment gently set down. speechless. husband dad too. had passed away fire last year. never told much about details only that brave. no idea how put this together. wiped crouched level. voice unsteady asked your buddy when answered broke completely. best friend whispered. through training life once. pressed hand me stories team hadn met all. now standing middle diner saw grief ours. unaware deep impact words smiled brightly. don have be sad. did best. breath filled space between nodded unable finally whispering little man. realized given something been able find myself: peace. rest night blur. whose name tyler stayed while barely touching coffee. left knelt front again pulled pocket. it small silver badge worn shining. belonged placing palm. gave luck think should now. covered mouth with hands. seen years. mentioned giving shift knew who. beamed gripping tightly. gonna keep forever. stood meeting eyes. hell quietly. so proud both you. couldn trust myself nodded. sat beside running fingers over badge. tucked into bed held watching right swallowed lump throat kissed forehead. baby. always. turned off light important: love doesn end loss. carries memories unexpected connections badges time. ones we ways remind us truly alone. srcset='\"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/never-truly-alone.jpg' https: sizes='\"(max-width:'>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"</p><p>Sometimes, the ones we love find ways to remind us that we\u2019re never truly alone. Working at a small diner means sometimes finding last-minute solutions for childcare. My babysitter canceled, so I brought my four-year-old son, Micah, with me to work. It was Halloween, and he was excited to wear his firefighter costume\u2014red helmet, coat,\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[818],"class_list":{"0":"post-115360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-moral-story","8":"tag-moral-touching-stories"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/never-truly-alone.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115364,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115360\/revisions\/115364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}</p>