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.

I’m standing here …..

surrounded by the rubble of my dreams.

They were my dreams for the future of my son, David Glasser, who was a Phoenix Police Officer killed in the line of duty on May 18, 2016.

There are times when the piles of my broken hopes and plans overwhelm me.  So many good times with him snatched from my life.  So much happiness and so many smiles that will never be.

He planned to retire from the Police force and get his teaching certificate.  He wanted to teach in high school and coach high school basketball.  He would have been an awesome teacher and an even greater coach.  I witnessed some of his potential when Micah, his son, got old enough to start playing in various sports leagues.  Davey was always beside him during water breaks, giving him tips and encouraging him.

So much has been lost.

Davey was always the responsible oldest child.   He cared for his father and I – making sure we were doing well and gor any healp we needed.   A couple of months before he was killed, my husband and I had rented an RV for a week and then drove it from Denver down to Phoenix.  Davey was not happy when he found out we had gotten back and we hadn’t let him know we were safely home.  He took his responsibilities seriously.

A couple of months before that I was driving my car with a donut (spare tire) because I had a flat tire and hadn’t had time to get it fixed.  He refused to let me drive my car to work on the freeway because donuts were not made to go that fast.  It’s not safe.  He insisted that we switch cars and he got my tire fixed for me while I went to work.

He was supposed to be here beside his dad and I as we move into the fall of our lives.  He was supposed to grow old with Kristen.  They were married very young so they could have easily celebrate 65 or 70  years of marriage.  He was supposed to coach Micah and Eden’s teams and proudly watch them graduate from high school.  Then he was planning to happily watch them graduate from ASU (if he got his way).  Sharing the joy of weddings and his grandchildren with him – it’s all gone.

Only the rubble of the dreams is left.

I’m standing here because I’m not sitting. I’m not staying in the rubble.

I’m still here because God has a purpose for me.  I’m not done yet.  So I’ll keep moving forward, going where God leads me until he calls me home –  where there are no tears, no grief, no rubble.

MIss you Davey.

#8144loveyou

May 18, 2016.

David Glasser, my son, a Phoenix Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty on that day.

And everything in my world shook.

You cannot imagine what that feels like until it happens to you.  Because it wasn’t just my life – the tsunami of his death hit everyone who was close to Davey.

My two grandchildren’s world exploded.  My daughter-in-law’s world crashed.

My husband’s world shattered into tiny pieces.  Davey was his best friend and my husband’s father had just passed away 2 weeks before Davey was killed.  Too much.

My daughter’s world tilted sideways as all of her dreams and plans with her big brother crumbled.

Davey’s close friend’s and squad member’s worlds spiraled in various directions as each person felt the blow of Davey’s death.

The world shook.  It twisted.  It filled with unimaginable grief.  It emptied of joy and light.

I needed something solid to hold onto while everything around me smashed and rocked.  And I found the one thing that didn’t shatter, didn’t tilt, didn’t explode.  He was right beside me and he was Rock Solid – my Father God.  Always there, always loving us, always caring for us.

God has been with us every step of the way as we have each had to pick our way through the devastation Davey’s death had on our lives.  I am completely convinced that God is good and nothing that has happened to me changes that.

When my world stopped shaking, I realized it was in this new place, a new reality.  My head recognizes this place and knows I have to keep moving forward.  My heart is still regularly tugged back to a time when Davey was here, making me laugh and filling my life with his special kind of love.

Before my whole world shook.

Miss you, Davey.

#8144loveyou

The answer is yes.

When I am asked if other law enforcement officers being killed in the line of duty brings it all back, the answer is always yes.  It brings back the horrible shock and loss of May 18, 2016 when my son, David Glasser, a Phoenix Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty.

The recent line of duty death of State Trooper Tyler Edenhofer has been hard.  He was so young with so much ahead of him.  Such a tragedy.  He was killed very close to my old neighborhood here in Phoenix but, truthfully, all of our neighborhoods are at risk.  We need our Thin Blue Line.

I can’t stop thinking and praying for Trooper Edenhofer’s family and friends.  My broken heart hurts for the pain they are experiencing and the struggles yet to come.  I know they are waking up each morning hoping it was all just an extremely bad nightmare…….

and then letting the tears flow as they realize it wasn’t.  Their world has shattered…..

and it will never be the same.

I have these feelings every time I hear of another officer being killed.  Every time.

Too many people don’t understand that each death of a Law Enforcement Officer is a tragedy for all of us.  These are the good guys and they are getting gunned down in the streets.  These are the courageous people who are standing in a thin blue line between all of us and evil.  They are standing between you and the bad guys in your neighborhood, in your city.  They put themselves in harm’s way each day for us.

When good guys lose, we all lose.

And we have all lost another hero.  A man who was dedicated to making a positive difference in our community.  A man willing to stand up against what is wrong and help make it right.

Those of us left behind will remember and honor Trooper Edenhofer for his bravery and sacrifice.  Facebook is full of posts letting us know how each of us can personally show our support for him and his family, for the officers who were injured in the same confrontation and for the Law Enforcement Officers who are still working hard each day to fight evil on our behalf.

Let’s all pick a way to show our appreciation and do it.

We need our Thin Blue Line.

Miss you, Davey.

#8144loveyou

It used to be that my only fear was that something bad would happen to one of my children.

And then the worst happened on May 18, 2016 when my son, David Glasser, a Phoenix Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty.

When I was younger, I had a lot of fears – my parents dying, something bad happening to me, and more.  As I grew older, all of those things happened to me.  As God walked me through each experience, I found I wasn’t scared of it any longer.

I was left with just that one fear – something bad happening to one of my children.

Then my daughter was diagnosed with cancer.

But it was early and it was thyroid cancer which is usually contained.  Surgery was successful and I thought my worst fear had been faced.  I was good.  Nothing else was going to happen to my children.

I was obviously very wrong.

Being afraid of it didn’t keep it from happening.  I have found fear to be a waste of energy and time.  Nothing good is going to come from it.  Fear messes up our minds as it messes up our attitudes.  I believe fear comes directly from Satan – he loves to keep us down, keep us worried, scared of our own shadows.

Fear is not going to keep bad things from happening.

If you read my blogs regularly, you have heard this from me before – the question is not ‘if’ something bad is going to happen to you, it’s ‘when’.

I have realized that my thinking one bad experience for my children was going to keep them from another bad experience was wrong.  There will be more – for them, for me and for other people I love.

So I must prepare for tough things to happen without being scared of them.  How do I do that?

As you can imagine, I’ve read a lot of different ideas about this through these last 2 years.  I found that the most helpful words of advice came from God through his Word.  Asking for wisdom in my reaction to the tough stuff has worked.  Wisdom such as making sure my response to the negative is positive and helpful to me and to others has worked.  Building my perseverance through growing my relationship with God has worked.  Finding purpose in the pain has worked.  You’ll find all of this advice in James 1.

So I am no longer scared.  I am prepared.

Because fear does not keep bad things from happening.

Miss you, Davey.

#8144loveyou