They day my father passed away, I met several strangers that I felt were extremely understanding and professional.

Due to my dad passing away at his home, law enforcement did have to send out a couple officers to make sure there was no foul play involved. My sister had just called me, telling me the news, and by the time Kolton and I got there, the cops were already there questioning both her and my mom. At first, they had us wait outside and I was a bit worried about how strong they were coming off, due to some stories about the not so good cops in my town.

The cop at the door asked who we were and after only a couple of minutes, we were let in and he immediately gave us his condolences. The other cop who was doing the questioning, gave us the same sentiment and we all sat down in the living room. I was still in a bit of shock at this point so I was kind of on autopilot if you will.

The cops were walking back and forth from my dad’s room to the living room, but you could tell they were wanting to give us as much space as possible. They were both trying to walk and talk quietly and were speaking highly respectfully to my mom about the next steps of calling the funeral home.

One of the cops even mentioned how peaceful my dad looked and how we could hopefully find comfort in that, since he had seen some stuff in which that was not the case. I did not feel the need to go back there and see him myself, but both my mom and sister did, so I was glad he made that comment to them.

Eventually, the funeral home people arrived and once again, they were extremely respectful and gave us all one more opportunity to say our goodbyes. At that point, we were just wanting it to be over with, so they went back in the room and wheeled my dad out of the house. They quietly gave my mom all the details she needed, and they were off. The cops stayed with us throughout that whole process, of which I was very grateful.

The circumstances surrounding this encounter with strangers may not have been positive in of itself, however the fact they made it even a fraction more bearable for us, is what ultimately stuck out to me.