Civilian Observer

What do you get when you put together a police officer and citizen who have been good friends for 13 years and have a "no holds barred" philosophy to their friendship for a 10-hour ride along? The answer would be:

1. A drive-by Cracker Jacking
2. A belching contest
3. A heated debate about the darkness of The Dark Knight and how Batman is not supposed to be so dark and whether Michael Keaton or Christian Bale was the better Batman
4. Me playing nursemaid by opening pill packets and tissue boxes for the sick officer
5. Lots reminiscing and insults that made me glad conversations in police cruisers aren't recorded

We had a bit of the curse of the rider, but that all blew out by about 6pm when we got back to back calls. And at 7:30PM, we were first on scene to a male who tried to climb back into a third story apartment he had been locked out of by an angry girlfriend. The man then fell three stories and landed on his face. When we arrived, by-standers had been instructed by 911 to turn the man onto his side and stabilize his head. I was amazed at how unaffected I was by the pools of blood and all the chaos. I simply stood out of the way and watched the scene unfold. There were some other issues going on and I was able to shadow the officer as he cleared the apartment and interviewed witnesses.

It was an amazing experience and I was very thankful and grateful not only for what material comforts I enjoy, but also for my intelligence, my health, my self-respect (that was a new one to me...I had never really thought of self-respect as being a gift before), etc. After that day I felt like, despite my shortcomings, I really have my act together.

In closing, I would just like to say that it absolutely must be a requirement for 95% of cops and fire fighters/EMTs to be hot. And I have to say I'm okay with that rule...

ETA: I wanted to add a couple of additional observations/facts about my "observation":

1. I would rather be heavy as I am and be healthy, smart, and happy than be a 100 pound tweeker who can't support herself and has no intelligence.
2. I am never, ever going to leave my apartment messy again lest something happen to me or around my place and the police/EMTs need to access my apartment.
3. Yes, I did wear pretty matching underwear and bra for my ride along. I figured the chances of me needing medical assistance to the point of having my clothes cut off were slim, but you never know and the last thing I wanted was to showoff my non-matching lingerie.