The Papa Bear Inside Awakens

I'm excited to share this guest post by Grant. Grant is a movie buff. He loves his family. He has competed in Volkslauf. He lives in California and he likes it there. Grant did not submit a bio, so I wrote one for him. Be sure to leave a comment for him below his post.

I spend all week working with people, and get to spend large amounts of my time helping folks in varied walks of life. I am not scared to travel into areas of great need, and have never found a situation where I couldn’t diffuse tension with patience and gentleness. It also helps that I am a large guy, and my presence is immediately noticed. 

On a morning out with my baby girl we were enjoying a smoothie, and outside I heard a commotion. A lady was arguing with her boyfriend, and they were getting loud. I noticed that she kept trying to hold him back, attempting to stop him from whatever action he was planning on taking. 

At this same time I was finishing up, and needed to head out to run a few more errands with my baby girl. Holding her in my arms, I saw this guy come up with a look on his face that immediately set off internal red flags. Without any thinking I shifted my daughter to my left arm, freeing up my dominant hand and changed my stance so she would be further away, while my leg and arm would be ready to move into action. 

In that moment my mind flashed a situation of this guy threatening my daughter’s safety in order to steal the contents of my wallet. My brain immediately flipped through 20 game plans depending on his next step. As my posture changed, so did my face. And this poor guy met my eyes and immediately took off running. 

I hate violence, and continually try to downplay my size by being gentle and humorous around folks. But something happened in me; at the thought of a threat against my daughter I flipped a switch and was ready to take on anything that attempted to harm her. I don’t know what that guy wanted, he might’ve just have wanted to use the restroom inside the business we were in, but my gut told me something different. 

Reflecting on this encounter, I think back to the times my dad put himself in harm’s way so I would be safe. Thanks Dad, and don’t worry, I’ll keep your grandkids safe.

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