What I love about a small town

Back in October my daughter Katie entered a local contest (Have you heard about Patch?)sponsored by our local Patch. The winner of this contest won a ride to school on a firetruck. Katie was beyond thrilled to hear that she won 1st place for the 1st grade in her elementary school. Little things like this make our small city seem like a cozy little town. The firefighters made it a really big deal for her and her schoolmate.
Here she is after her big arrival at school (with all the bells and whistles).


And what makes this story even better is that we share a little history with the female firefighter in the picture.
One summer afternoon I arranged for a babysitter for my then 18 month old Katie and 3yr old Riley. I escaped the house to meet my friend for lunch downtown. After lunch I arrived home to find a firetruck, ambulance and two police cars parked in the front of my house. My immediate thought was that our Rottweiler, Greta, had bitten someone. I parked my car and got out, and asked what happened as I jogged to my front door. Although my heart was pumping fast on the inside I was calm as I looked around and didn't see a lot of activity in the yard. Everyone was just standing around. I had almost reached the front door when I was intercepted by the female firefighter. She grabbed my shoulders and yelled "MA'AM, STAY CALM". Well...one thing that you should know about me is that I'm totally cool in an emergency. It's just how I'm wired. So while she's shaking me by the shoulders I tell her "I AM CALM... JUST TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED?"
She tells me that the babysitter was accidentally locked out of the house (the sliding door latch fell down after she and Riley had gone outside to play) and our sleeping 18 month old (Katie) was still asleep in her toddler bed, alone in the house. The firefighters were trying to get into the house but they were afraid of Greta. So they were in the backyard trying to figure out how to get in without getting bitten by our dog.
The whole crew knows that I've arrived. I unlock my front door and go inside to check on Katie. Just as I get to Katie's door my dining room window gets popped out of place by the firemen and one of them climbed through the window to get into my house (even though they saw me in the hallway).
And little Katie slept through the whole thing until that fireman walked into her bedroom...then she woke up and screamed the walls down.
I still wonder why he felt the need to pop my window out when I was already in my house.