Humble hero

Yesterday, I was working from home and A was at the office. In the late afternoon, I got an email from one of my co-workers saying something like, "Since A saved N, will he be immune from the next round of layoffs? ;-)" I had no idea what my co-worker was talking about. I figured A had helped our co-worker N with something big at work. But I was on my way out to pick up R at school, so I figured I'd just ask A about it when I picked him up later at the train station.

Well, it turns out that A literally saved N! I had to pry it out of A, but apparently our co-worker was choking on his lunch, another co-worker ran down the hall screaming, "Call 911!", and A ran over and did the Heimlich several times and got the food out. Then, everyone went back to work(!). A wasn't very forthcoming on the details, but I found out from others this morning that another person had tried to do the Heimlich unsuccessfully, other people ran upstairs to tell our CEO, several people tried to call 911 but got flustered and forgot you have to dial 8 to dial out on our phones, etc. - absolute chaos. (The stories make it sound like that recent episode of The Office where Dwight starts a fire.) But in the midst of all of that, A kept his cool and stepped in and saved the day. And, he was too humble to even bring it up with me! How much do I love this man?

As my dad will remember, this isn't the first time A has saved someone from choking. When A and I first started dating, we went to visit my dad and his girlfriend for dinner. I was chewing a piece of steak and it got stuck. Since I didn't want to cough the thing up in front of everyone, I left the room (big mistake). When I was in the other room and no one could see me, I realized that there was nothing I could do - couldn't breathe, cough, anything. But somehow my dad and A figured out that I needed help and rushed in. A took over, did the Heimlich on me a couple of times, and out popped the steak. I remember being so shaken up that A and I just held onto each other for a long time. And, I distinctly remember my dad saying, "Thank you for saving my daughter's life!"

I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and for how God made him someone who is calm and collected during a crisis. But I think twice in one lifetime is enough times for a person to have to perform the Heimlich maneuver. Hopefully, A doesn't have to save any more lives anytime soon!