Even more proof that my husband is awesome.

I met this guy once. He was cute, funny, smart, hard working and honest. I ended up marrying him and thought I hit the jackpot because, well, he was my soulmate. 

And, then we grew up and had kids and he became a dad. Along with the normal dad duties, he stepped into the role of  baseball coach, soccer coach and, my personal favorite, yearly speaker at preschool during Community Helpers Week! 

Truly, this might be my favorite thing ever. There are sometimes, especially on weekends and holidays, when I wish that we had 8-5/Mon-Fri jobs and then I get to experience things like this and I realize that anybody can have a normal job, but it takes a truly amazing person to devote their life to public service.  

Here he is showing them his vest and explaining why he has to wear it. There were many, many questions concerning his gun. 

*This is Ms. Chantese in the pic, looking less than thrilled. I think I captured a rare non-smiling moment because she is AMAZING!!! I mean, she is the Dr. Cogen of pre-school teachers. 

The class was SO pumped to see him. A bit of the conversation:

"Do you guys know my buddy, Anderson?" At this point his buddy was possibly about to burst with pride.

The teachers kept asking them to share what they learned about and they kept yelling things like, "You take down the bad guys!" and "You arrest the bad guys!", "You take the bad guys to jail!"  She kept trying to switch to other things like safety and helping others and they would have none of it.

"What do you use your gun for?"
"Show us your gun!"
"Can you pass around the gun?"
"I LOVE YOU!" from one little girl at the end. It was hilarious.
"Can I touch you?"
"How tall are you?"
"I have a little sister!"
"Those girls live in the same house!" (talking about twins in the class)
"Where is your gun?"
"Is that a drill?" (talking about the taser)
"Can I hug you?" (one kid wanted to hug me, too. It was sort a delirious atmosphere)
"Did you go to college?"
"Where do you get your tools, like your gun?"

He did SUCH an awesome job sharing the positive side of law enforcement, telling them about the time he pulled someone from a burning car (he did this in real life and I made him tell that story because apparently superheroes are real), showing the stuff on his belt (it all weighs 25 lbs! I didn't know that!), passing around the handcuffs and flashlights, answering all of their questions and even reading a book. Anderson picked out The Berenstain Bears & the Double Dare, which has a nice little lesson about not following peer pressure. Brandon even made chicken noises during the reading of the book and they LOVED it. 

They all wanted to touch him. Especially after he showed them the goody bags they all got to take home (coloring book, crayons, police pencil, police badge and police tattoo.)

The buddy, himself.

Oh, look. I was there...possibly intervening trying to ensure everyone could see the pictures. (You can take the teacher out of the classroom, but...)

 The classes made him thank you cards.

I am SO proud to be married to someone who is so selfless, brave, hard working and, most of all, willing to be hugged by a bunch of 4 year olds.

 Anderson's to Officer Glover

Then, there was this shot during the UT/FL game last week. Yep, that is Brandon hanging out with Coach Jones.