My youngest had ear tubes put in for the third time today. I dropped our oldest off at preschool and then headed to the hospital. I needed to stop by the restroom on the way, and started to take care of my business. All of a sudden, I hear an alarm go off, then the one in the bathroom went, and the light on the fire alarm was flashing. I knew my wife and child were just down the hall, so I finished up hurriedly, grabbed my crutches and headed out the door. Yes, I said crutches. A few weeks ago I broke my foot at a tae kwon do testing and have been hobbling around with crutches and a cam boot ever since. A fire door had closed right outside the restroom, so I headed for it when a voice behind me said, "Hey, you can't open that door!" I replied to the nurse I saw, "My family is in there." Her response was, "That's a fire alarm, you can't open that door." I simply said, "I'm going to be with my family" and proceeded to go through the door. Found my family and everyone was fine, as I expected.

My instinct when I heard the alarm was that I needed to make sure my family was okay, and if they weren't, to do what I could to get them to safety.

I don't think there's much that could have kept me from going through that door. Somewhere in the back of my mind a tiny voice said, "Screw your rules, I have to protect my family!"

I don't know what my point is exactly. It weighed on my mind several times today and I just thought I'd share the experience.