He Never Misses

Category: MAD FOR 2019

  • Mad for…Gerry

    GHepp

    Day 3 of 365

    This is a very official photo of Capt. Gerry Hepp of the Fishers Police Department.  Gerry is a dear friend of mine, and so I know him well enough to realize he won’t be super comfortable with my post.  I hope he will forgive me for sharing this fancy picture and my little love bomb today.

    Integrity filled men like Gerry are treasures to the community, and to the individual lives they touch.  Gerry has served Fishers with his signature smile and a great deal of compassion for nearly 30 years in different capacities at the FPD.  He has witnessed humanity at its very best, and at it’s gut-wrenching worst.  He’s had some difficult days at work, in service of us all, that I dare not even attempt to describe.  Somehow, through all of that, he kept his sense of humor and his sunny disposition.

    There were insane moments that must have an interior impact that only men and women who live their lives in service to others could understand fully, but Gerry still showed up at his son Cole’s baseball games ready to cheer on #5 doing his work behind the plate, or to watch little brother Clay run the point for the Golden Eagles.  He never failed to greet yours truly or whoever was in his path with a big smile and a warm hug.  I ran into him many times after he and Ann took their big bike ride to breakfast together, and he’s always ready with that grin and giggle.  A father like Gerry is a big reason why those two young men are similarly articulate, hard-working and kind.

    Gerry is retiring.  In fact, he has already hauled his things out of the station.  I know this because he sent me a couple of photos from his last day.  How fantastic it was to find these in my text stream!

     

     

    I hear there’s a retirement open house for Gerry scheduled for tomorrow at the Fishers PD Training room from noon-4.  I’m hoping lots of grateful folks will stop in and celebrate the career of Capt. Hepp.  He’s a truly fantastic human being.

    Thanks, Gerry, for what you’ve spent decades doing for the community, but even more for the terrific witness of what a husband, father, brother and friend can really be to those around him.  LOVE YOU, FRIEND.

     

  • Mad for…Edie

    Edie(2-365)

    Day 2 of 365

    Meet Edie.  She’s a proud mother of two daughters and a son, all grown, and she lives on the east side of Indianapolis in the Twin Aire neighborhood.  That’s where the new prison is being built, she tells me.  She also thinks a savvy investor would put a fast food place in near her home, since there are plenty of customers but no place to buy a quick sandwich.  Until recently, Edie had one grandchild.  Now, she suddenly has 3 with one on the way.  You see one of her children recently adopted two kiddos who needed a family, and her daughter who has been struggling to get pregnant announced at Christmas the joyous news that she and her husband are expecting.  What lucky little ones to have such a welcoming and lovely woman as a grandma!

    I’ve been calling her “Evie” by mistake for years.  She cheerfully waved off my apology, but she figured I’d want to have it correct.  She’s right.

    Edie manages the Classic Cleaner location on Hazel Dell Parkway at 131st near my home in north east Carmel.  Since my CPA husband goes through dress shirts pretty quickly, I see her quite often.  Here’s what makes Edie special.  She ALWAYS greets me with a smile.  She asks about my kids, who have occasionally stopped in with me over the years.  I’m not particularly notable as customers go.  It’s simply what Edie does with ALL HER CUSTOMERS.  Edie is unfailingly sunny, and incredibly friendly and kind.  She’s a pro at what she does, but a hero for who she is.

    Thanks for making my neighborhood a little brighter everyday, Edie!

  • Mad for…Tom

    Happy New Year! Holy cow, it’s 2019.   I have this idea, and we’ll see how things develop, but it seems to me the world needs just a lot more love.  So, for this coming year I’d like to try and be the reason someone believes just a teeny bit more in the goodness of people.  That’s a rather vague and hard to measure resolution, huh?

    What if I spend a few minutes each day typing up a little love bomb about a terrific person and point them out to you?  Could I perhaps even come up with a different one to share everyday this year?  That seems like a long shot for a girl with my utter lack of discipline and perseverance in most things…but that’s the goal.  It’s my column, so the rules are all mine, but my intention is to choose 365 people that I know and people that I don’t, but who somehow stand out in my day.  Maybe, you’ll be inspired by the awesomeness of one of them, or perhaps you might read and start looking for people that shine in your little circle and find your heart feeling much more full of all things good and holy?  Would that make the world just a little brighter in 2019?  

    Let’s give it a whirl.

    Tom-Shelly2018

    Day 1 of 365:   MAD FOR….TOM

    I don’t usually write about my husband.  The reason is that he doesn’t like it.  The thing is, if I am going to start a year long column highlighting the goodness of ordinary people and I don’t choose him today, then that is a flagrant foul on me.

    You see, Tom’s been home for a week.  He’s an antsy sort of human.  Most of the year, the need to “do something” is satisfied on the golf course.  Unfortunately for him, it’s December in Indiana, so that’s not an option.  Instead, he used his culinary talents to smoke us beef tenderloin on Christmas, and he snuck $100 bills into the stockings of three young men who were thrilled to receive the unexpected windfall.  He spent a day cooking Ina Garten’s jambalaya (OH MY GOSH YUM) and then followed it up with a tailgate food fest fit for a basement full of Boilermakers (RIP, Purdue).

    He wrapped up his laptop and put my name on the box for Christmas, a symbolic gesture to let me know he wanted to gift me new computer of my choosing.  He called me out for frowning as we attempted to return an ill-fitting sweater, but forgave me, when I was way too cranky anyway at the Castleton Square Mall– a place I have sworn to never visit again.  Based on that experience, I’ll call the time of death on retail shopping…but I digress.

    Tom labored over homemade chicken pot pie, and he played 20 rounds of Wizard with me and Zach.  He made sure the tuition bills at Xavier and Purdue were handled.  He went to Kroger.  There were multiple trips.  Did you catch that last one?  HE WENT TO KROGER.  Do you have any idea how much I loathe Kroger and their assumption that I want to be an employee of their grocery establishment?  If you know me at all, then you know how happy I was to skip even a single trip to that god-forsaken place.  Yeah Tom!!

    This evening, we’ll be holding the 5th annual “OCTAGONATHON”.  It’s a family tradition instituted by my husband.  I think.  If he isn’t the creative genius behind it, he is certainly the presenting sponsor!  There are 8 events ranging from Ping Pong to Jenga and the Thieme men take it very seriously.  There are also serious prizes.  My personal goal is to not finish last.

    The point of my tribute today is to just say this.  Tom Thieme wins PLAYER OF THE WEEK honors here at 5350 Randolph Crescent.  We are blessed to call him ours.

    I love you, Tom.  Happy New Year!

    P.S.  Live Tweeting (@shellythieme) is a thing for the Octagonathon for those of you who enjoy following along from home.