My son, David Glasser, was a Phoenix Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty on May 19, 2016.

Parts of his funeral are foggy to me and other parts are crystal clear.  I will never forget sitting in the front row of the huge church auditorium packed to the rafters with family, friends and police officers and their wives.  As I sat there with thousands of people sitting behind me, I felt strong waves of grief rolling over the crowd.  That was one of the experiences that helped me understand how many people were affected by Davey’s death.

This was much bigger than family and friends and people who knew him.  This was my whole big blue family grieving.  I had never experienced that amount of serious grief and pain in one room.

Unbelievable.

The speakers at his funeral were awesome and I appreciated everything people shared.

I did not expect to be surprised by a few things that people talked about.  I knew Davey well and spent a ton of time with him.  As his mother, I thought I knew all about him.  But two things that were shared were not things I expected.

One of them is Davey’s Legacy of Love – he made a big deal out of saying ‘love you’ to his squad members before he left on a call and he would stand there, waiting for them to say it back to them.  I knew Davey always said it to me, I just didn’t know that it was the last thing that he said to everyone that he cared about in his life.  I didn’t know that he had his whole squad of tough police officers saying it to each other before they left on a call.  I also didn’t know at the time of his funeral how Davey’s legacy of love was going to totally change the journey we have been on since that day.  Love is the answer.  I’ve shared that many times with you and I’ll probably keep saying it until the day I leave this earth for home.

The other thing that surprised me was how many of the speakers talked about Davey sharing his faith.  I shouldn’t be surprised because he had a very strong faith.   I just never heard him sharing his faith with other people so I didn’t realize he talked about God as much as he did.  Now I realize that, if he cared about you and he wasn’t sure you believed in Jesus, he would bring it up….often.  In fact, he didn’t let the subject die, he kept talking about it.  He would challenge his friend’s beliefs and unbelief.

How awesome!  It’s just another reason why I’m proud of the man Davey was.  Davey accepted Jesus as his Savior as a child and continued to grow in his faith through the rest of his life.  In this picture, Davey and my husband, Dave, are at a Promise Keeper’s Christian Men’s Rally.  Promise Keepers taught men all about living a life of integrity and keeping their promises.  Davey learned that lesson very well – those of you who knew him already were aware of that.

God provided a great church family for us which was the village that helped grow Davey’s faith.  Davey went to church camp and mission trips every year – living out his faith and having a great time doing it.  This picture is of one of the groups of kids that went on a church mission trip when Davey was in high school.  He is in the back row next to Jay Van Gelder who spoke at his funeral.  And Kristen is in the front row.  We had no idea that they would marry not too many years after this picture was taken.

Davey sets a good role model for those of us who believe.  We need to share our faith and what we know to be true – and we need to keep sharing it.

And do it all while we love people.

Miss you, Davey.

#8144loveyou

It’s a sign that things are just getting started.

It’s a sign that one man who cared can make a difference.

It’s a sign that David Glasser’s legacy of love is destined to have a permanent effect on the kids who live in Laveen….and beyond.

David Glasser, my son, was a Phoenix Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty on May 19, 2016.  He loved being a police officer and he committed his life to helping make the streets of Phoenix a safer place for you and I to live.  He wanted to make a difference by working as one of the good guys, making our communities safer for our kids to play in.  He asked to work in the highest risk areas of Phoenix in order to protect you and me from the dangerous people who prowl the streets of those neighborhoods.

Everyone who drives by this plaque in Laveen is reminded of the day that the City of Phoenix lost a hero.

Last year, the Laveen Elementary School District decided to honor Davey and his memory by naming the athletic field they were building after him.  What a great idea!  Davey loved sports – all of them.  He was a huge fan of the Cardinals, the Diamondbacks and all of the ASU sports teams.  The Cardinals are having a really tough season this year so far and, if Davey were here, he would be talking loud and long about ‘fair weather fans’.  Loyalty was a huge issue for Davey.

Davey played baseball and basketball, focusing on basketball as he got into high school and onto the varsity team.  He knew a lot about sports and planned to become a coach after he retired from the police department.  That’s one of the many dreams which will never come true.

But Davey never dreamed that an athletic complex would be named after him.  And that has come true.  Here’s the sign:

It’s a beautiful complex at 5001 West Dobbins Road in Laveen.  Stop in sometime and take a look.

There is not a more appropriate way to honor Davey than by naming a sports complex after him.  And there is no better place for it than in the middle of the community he died serving.  Kids playing sports on these fields for many years to come will be reminded of a Police Officer who cared enough to work hard in their community to help keep them safe.  His love for his community lives on here at these fields.

It’s a sign that great things are going to happen here and it’s all just getting started.

Miss you, Davey.

#8144loveyou

It happened yesterday.

I was honored to be asked to share my experience of the line of duty death of my son, David Glasser, a Phoenix Police Officer, at a one-day women’s retreat yesterday.  My family was a part of the church family where the retreat was held for 28 years and this was the village that helped grow Davey and my daughter, Katie.

It was the first time I’ve told this story out loud to a big group of people so I spent a lot of time preparing.  So much has happened, it took a lot of prayer to figure out what to include.

If you read this blog, you have read something about most of the lessons I have learned on this journey so far.  One of them is – the question is not ‘if’ something bad is going to happen to you.  The question is ‘when’.

I don’t share that to scare anyone – it’s just the truth.  We all have our tough times and tragedies.

I have realized that one of the ways God prepared me for the trials surrounding Davey’s death was by challenging me to memorize the first chapter of the book of James from the Bible.  James 1 is wisdom scripture.  God knew I was going to need wisdom and I was going to need it to be readily available when there was no time to consult a Bible.  So, about 1 1/2 years before Davey was killed, God challenged me and I memorized James 1.

You don’t understand what a big deal this is – let me explain.  I have an awful memory.  I’ll confess – even though I’ve known you for a very long time, sometimes I just can’t remember your name.  Don’t ask me to be on your trivia team – you’ll be very disappointed.  I never know who wrote what or who did what or what year it happened.

But God proved to me that I can memorize scripture – with his help.  I write the scripture on index cards and get my cards out hundreds of times and God etches his words onto my brain.  That’s how it works.  It’s a supernatural partnership that is very cool and very obvious to me since my memory is so bad for everything else.

As I was sharing the supernatural part of memorizing James 1 yesterday, it sounded like a bucket-full of rocks was dropped on the roof of the church right above me.  It was so loud that I stopped my story, looked up and asked, “What was that?”

I received answers back like “It started raining”, “It’s the wind” and then someone said, “I think that was Davey.”

Cool.

I didn’t think about it again until later, when a couple of women pointed out to me that it had not started raining and it wasn’t windy.

Was it Davey?

What do you think?

Miss you, Davey.

#8144loveyou

It has been two and a half years since my son, David Glasser, a Phoenix Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty.

The worst happened.

Our worlds exploded.

The first many months a fog of pain and confusion swirled around in our heads each day.  The first year is tough and I think the second year is even worse in some ways.  The permanence of the situation becomes very evident in the second year and is extremely difficult to deal with.

The hole in our lives is growing bigger.  There are more and more events and things Davey is missing.  He should have been there.

But we’re figuring out how forward.  That’s what Davey would have wanted.  God is giving us strength and he is helping us get used to living with the hole.

We have discovered that love is the answer.

Davey left us a legacy of love which is much bigger than the 2 simple words, “Love you”.  The love and care behind those words filled many dark times in our lives these last 2 1/2 years.

Davey knew how important these two words were so he used them with us all the time.  At his funeral, I was surprised to hear that he also used them with his squad all the time – and he was adamant that they say it back to him.  He realized how quickly life could end and he wanted those words to be the last thing anyone he cared about heard him say.

‘Love you’ has transformed our journey because its hard to be bitter when everyone around you is saying they love you.  It’s hard to be angry when you’re surrounded by love.  It’s hard to feel alone when all around you arms of love are reaching out to hug you.

And Davey’s legacy of love is bigger than just us.  His love for our city has motivated the creation of the David Glasser Foundation in order to continue the work Davey started.  His foundation is just getting started but we are already seeing some of our dreams of what the foundation can accomplish in Davey’s name coming true.

And there is much more to Davey’s legacy of love.  Because he loved others so freely, his life and death has affected people across our city.  The ripples of his legacy of love have spread through other families and friends out into other states and across the nation as we come to understand how short life is and how important love is.

Love is a gift from God and Davey gave that gift to all of us.

Thank you, Davey.

Miss you.

#8144loveyou

Expose them to the culture they will be living in, working in and hopefully making a difference in.

Help them learn to be resilient as they experience how unfair our world is and how disappointing it can be.

Teach them to be good winners and even better losers.

If they live in a city so they need to be city-smart.  They need to watch for danger and know how to react.  They need to get to know the city and be comfortable in it.

Train them to become independent and self-sufficient at a young age.

Help them learn how to handle the truth – the good and the bad.

Give them tools to overcome their fears and feel confident in facing each day in our uncertain world.

Teach them about God – his love, his grace and his strength as he walks beside them every day,  He is light and they will need light in order to find their way in this dark place we live in.

These are some of the strategies my husband and I used raising our children.  Our son, David Glasser, was a Phoenix Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty on May 18, 2016.  These strategies helped make Davey an awesome son, a great friend, a wonderful husband and a fantastic dad.  They also helped him become an excellent police officer who made a positive difference in our city.

Davey was tough.  He understood his culture and was not scared of facing down the evil that prowls within it.  He experienced how unfair our world is and didn’t let it stop him from being passionate about what he did.

The truth was extremely important to Davey – he didn’t hide from it.  His integrity was rock solid – that’s how he lived his life.  He challenged others around him to also live with integrity and he was disappointed when anyone he cared about missed the mark.

All of his life, Davey always wanted to know the rules.  He thought following the rules was very important.  His fun-loving, adventurous side also liked to stretch the rules and bend the rules, but he didn’t break the rules.  Even as a kid, he did whatever it took to avoid getting into trouble.  As a police officer, he wanted to work in the worst parts of the city so he could take the people who broke the laws off of the streets and put them behind bars where they belong.

Davey loved God.  He identified himself as God’s soldier as he went out to battle each day.  He understood that he was fighting evil in the name of God – trying to push back the darkness to help make this world a safer place for you and me.

Davey put himself on the front line because God had given him a warrior’s heart.  We found this scripture on Davey’s phone after he was killed.

Miss you, Davey.

#8144loveyou

Davey was always figuring out how to get a bunch of his friends together and have a good time.  He loved people – all kinds of people.  He was the type of guy that would start talking to people while he’s waiting in line behind them, and, by the time his turn came up, they would all be following each other on Twitter.  He was always aware of other people who didn’t seem to have friends and he would invite them to join his group.

David Glasser, my son was a Phoenix Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty on May 18, 2016.  His death had a big impact on our city because his life had a big impact on our city.  People from all over the city had met him and knew him.  Many of those were police officers and there were also large groups of people who knew him because he was a massive fan of the Cardinals and all ASU sports.  There were other sports fans who got to know him on Twitter and then became his friend.  He was born and raised in Phoenix so he had old friends all over the valley that he kept in touch with.

I love to tell stories that give you an insight into his unique personality and personal style.  As you can imagine, Davey liked to have people over and have a good time.  So he needed a beer frig, right?  He always said beer was supposed to be kept cold – you shouldn’t have it sitting in your pantry or garage.  It just didn’t taste right unless it went from the store refrigerator to your refrigerator.

I kept hearing about his beer frig when I would visit Davey and Kristen after they were married.  I assumed it was an extra refrigerator stashed somewhere – I don’t usually drink beer so I never used it.

They built a house in Goodyear and I still heard about this beer frig.  I never really looked for it until one hot summer day when we were visiting Davey and Kristen, I decided I wanted a beer.  And Davey said they were all in the beer frig.  So I went out to the garage to look for this beer frig.  I had never seen it but I had never actually looked for it.

There was no beer frig in the garage.  So I came back in and asked where the beer frig was and my husband told me it was in one of the extra bedrooms.  I had not had any reason to go in there so I had never seen it.  I thought it was a little strange to have a refrigerator in a bedroom but, they had two extra bedrooms at that time so it made some sense.

I checked out both extra rooms and I didn’t see any refrigerator.  Now I’m wondering if they had been playing a joke on me all of these years, just waiting for me to take the bait. (This was just like Davey)  Maybe the ‘beer frig’ was actually the back shelf of their refrigerator or something.

I’m getting a little perturbed at this point – getting a beer shouldn’t be this hard.  So I walked out and said, “Where exactly is this beer frig?”  My husband walked me back to one of the bedrooms and pointed to a brown box on the floor next to a pile of other stuff.  He opened the door of the tiny brown refrigerator and grabbed a beer for me.

I couldn’t stop laughing!

Davey had saved his teeny refrigerator from college days and that was the famous beer frig I had been hearing about for so many years!

Davey loved a good deal.  He was always using coupons and discounts and figuring out how to save a buck.  He used a coupon at the restaurant he and his date went to for Senior Prom.  He would buy Fry’s gift cards and then use them for his own groceries so that he’d get the double points for gas.  He had a coupon on every trip he made to Home Depot.

We now have Davey’s beer frig in our garage.  It’s still working and Davey would smile if he saw how it is stuffed full of beer and in need of being defrosted – just like the old days. That small brown box brings back many good memories of an amazing young man who loved people – and who made good use of his tiny college refrigerator.

So, remember to raise a toast the next time you pop open a brew in memory of a great man, a loving son, a dedicated police officer and an awesome friend!

Miss you, Davey.

#8144loveyou

It counts.

It’s awesome to be able to see each day that people care.

I live on the edge of town so I am often driving pretty long distances on the streets and freeways of Metropolitan Phoenix.  The freeway can seem like a pretty lonely place as I only catch quick glimpses of people as we pass by each other.

It can also feel like a dangerous place as cars zoom past and weave around over all the lanes.  I’m always on the defense, trying not to get run into, trying not to become a ‘statistic’ on the freeway.

This city seems like an even more dangerous place to me since my son, David Glasser, who was a Phoenix Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty on May 18, 2016.   Too many guns.  Too much drugs.  Too many angry and confused people.

The violence happened so fast.  It could happen anywhere.  It is happening somewhere in the city – all the time.

I can’t let that stop me from living my life to the fullest so I have to figure out ways to focus on the positives.  And I have begun to watch for Fallen Officer Plates on cars.  Arizona has Fallen Officer Car License plates that anyone can get.  The plate has a small annual fee which goes to Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS).  This organization provides support for survivors of Line of Duty deaths.  They care for people like me and my family and they have been very helpful.  Many of the people who work and volunteer there are survivors themselves.

So they know.

Several years before Davey’s death, he was adamant that we all get Fallen Officer’s plates.  He and Kristen went to every local fallen officer’s funeral and he wanted to help make sure the officers were remembered and the survivors taken care of.  A big smile came onto his face and he pointed it out when he saw the plates start appearing on our cars.  Other states also have special plates – it’s not limited to Arizona.  My daughter lives in Colorado and she has a Fallen Hero plate.

So, when I’m on the freeways and streets of Phoenix, I’m watching for car license plates.  I like the new first responder plates with the thin blue line and the red line but I am partial to the Fallen Officer plates for obvious reasons.  When I see one, I always wonder if the person driving lost an officer or knew a fallen officer.  I realize many of them are probably like us before Davey’s death – supporting all fallen officers’ families.

Some of the licenses are personalized and I have been known to look up a name or date or badge number if it doesn’t look familiar to me.  My plate is personalized – reminding all of us of Davey’s legacy of ‘love you’.  I have seen people behind me take pictures of my plate.  I have seen passengers in cars looking like they are doing what I do – Googling 8144 to see whose badge number it is.  There are several personalized plates around the valley with Davey’s name, badge number and “Love you” on them.  When you see one, please remember how much Davey loved this city and he was willing to risk it all to make it a safer place for us to live.

It feels like my Blue family is out on the road next to me when I see a Fallen Officer plate.  These people recognize that officers have sacrificed everything to help keep evil off of our streets. They remember that our freedom is not free. These people are trying to cut through the anonymity of the city to show that they care.

I see you.

And it helps.

Miss you, Davey.

#8144loveyou

My son, David Glasser, was a Phoenix Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty on May 18, 2016.  And there are days I just don’t want to.

I don’t want to acknowledge the fact that Davey is gone.

I don’t want to try to find the strength to move forward.

I don’t want to face the issues that I will have to face as I will spend the rest of my life here on earth without him.

I don’t want to think about the reality that so many other Blue families and friends go through this same nightmare.  Too many.

I don’t want to visit his spot in the cemetery – I want to pretend it doesn’t exist.

I want to hear his laugh.

I want to see him pick up Eden and throw her in the air.

I want to see him playing basketball in his backyard with Micah and hear him coaching his 5 year-old son on how to improve his shot.

I want to see him playing Cornhole and Washers with his sister and her husband in his big backyard every time they came to visit.

I want to see him in the car with Micah picking up his dad so all the guys could go to Home Depot – they went there ALOT.

I want to see him on his riding lawn mover with his hat and his headphones on, rocking out to tunes while he cuts the grass of the lawn he loves so much.

I want to see him sitting on my couch with our minnie-pin dog stretched over his chest, her head up by his so she can lay there and lick his neck.  She had a big crush on Davey.

I want to hear him talking about which Cardinals away game he and the guys are planning to go to this year.

I want to see him wearing the crazy Cardinals hat I bought him as he tailgates before the game today.  This is his favorite day of the year.

I want to say “Happy Man Christmas’ to him one more time.  Just one more time.  And then see his eyes light up and a huge smile spread across his face.  Just one more time.

My heart yearns to go back to a time when all these things were possible…….. but my brain knows that’s not going to happen.

Miss you so much, Davey.

#8144loveyou.

Evil surrounds us.

It is walking our streets.

It is driving down our highways.

It is stalking our teenage daughters.

It is manufacturing drugs in houses right next to the parks where our children and their friends are playing.

It is selling drugs inside of our schools.

Evil is invading the hearts and minds of the weak, causing them to randomly kill people in the streets with their knives and guns.

Evil is pointing and shooting guns at our Police Officers.

And our Thin Blue Line shoots back.

Yes, we shoot back because we will not surrender our streets, our teenage daughters, our playgrounds or our schools to evil.

Uninformed tongues of people sitting in offices may wag.  But there will be no white flag flown while evil still prowls the streets of our neighborhoods, our cities and our country.  Our Thin Blue Line is making sure of that.

Since the beginning of time – going back to the Garden of Eden – good and evil have been in a battle.  God versus Satan.  We know God wins the war but, right now, we’re in the mess of the battle.  We are in the middle of the pain and confusion and violence.

There are many people who just don’t understand.  Evil needs to be pushed back every hour of every day – it can not be ‘tolerated’.  Evil needs to be searched out and eliminated one black spot at a time.  It’s us or them.

And it’s not going to be us.  We’re not surrendering.

Evil will not stop by itself.   It grows and takes over more ground unless it is met with enough force to push it back.  Our Military is that force outside of the US boundaries and our Law Enforcement officers are that force inside of our boundaries.

There are laws to protect the innocent and those laws need to be enforced – constantly.  You and I might not like getting a speeding ticket but we celebrate when murderers are taken off the streets.  In each situation, we can appreciate the fact that the law of the land is being enforced, making our neighborhoods safer places to live.  Our Thin Blue Line stands between the evil and the innocent and they are not surrendering that line.

Ever.

Thank you to each one of you who battles evil for the rest of us.  Thank you to all of you who support our military and our law enforcement officers as they go to battle each day.

Thank you for never surrendering.

#8144loveyou

not tomorrow.

Looking back, before my son, David Glasser, who was a Phoenix Police Officer was killed in the in line of duty, one of the things I’m very grateful for is the fact that we didn’t put things off until tomorrow.  We were – and still are – people who don’t wait until next year, or the next year or the next year to do fun things together.

We went.  We saw.  We did.  We had a great time.  And we have the awesome memories to prove it.

No regrets.

We discovered that there is never a perfect time – we just had to plan it and do it and it all worked out.  What sounded crazy at first – “Let’s all go to Italy next summer” – becomes possible with a good plan and the willingness to just go for it.  I have travelled a lot so I was ready but I remember asking my husband if he was ready for an adventure when I was planning the Italy trip.  He said he was so,  after an 8-day unaccompanied tour of Venice, Florence and Rome we took off across Italy totally on our own.  It was a 5 hour train ride each way, 3 different trains, way down to the heel of Italy where very few Americans go for a week on the beaches of the Adriatic Sea.

What an awesome trip that was!

When the kids were young, we traveled to the Grand Canyon (obviously), Hawaii, Florida, the Poconos, New York City,  and various other places on the east coast.  We always went to baseball games where ever we travelled so we have visited a lot of stadiums. We also camped often – all over Arizona with a lot of different people.  Good times!  Since Davey married Kristen when they were young, she was part of our family for college graduation trips to London, Spain and Italy.  My husband and I cruised to Alaska with Davey and Kristen before they had kids.

Davey continued to love to travel – to go and do – as an adult.  He and Kristen took many trips together and then with Micah.  Davey loved his ‘guy’ trips to Vegas and Cardinals games.  He continued the tradition of going to a baseball or football game where ever he went – eventually visiting most of the stadiums in the United States.

I can’t tell you how glad we are that we didn’t wait.  We didn’t put off having fun together.  We didn’t talk about what we were going to do together someday – we made a plan and did it.  It wasn’t all about the big trips, either.  We had a great time camping as well.

No regrets.

Davey saw and did a lot in his 34 short years and we shared a huge amount of those adventures with him.

My advice to you – if you’ve been putting off having some fun and making great new memories with people you love, today is the day to stop thinking about it and actually do it.  Make a plan, make reservations, put a date to it.

You’ll be glad you did.

We are.

Miss you, Davey.