Yesterday was supposed to be a normal drive home. But two hours away, in the middle of a bustling interstate, everything came to a screeching halt—our car broke down. Three kids in the backseat, a hungry newborn, and a highway full of speeding vehicles. It was chaos.

I couldn’t risk taking the baby out of his car seat to feed him. As unsafe as everything felt, the only place I knew he’d be protected from oncoming traffic was strapped in tight. We called dispatch. We called AAA. And then, an Alabama State Trooper pulled up beside us.

At first, I thought he was just there to redirect traffic—flash some lights, wave a few cars away. But he did far more than that.

He gently ushered the kids and me into his cruiser and got us off that dangerous road, driving us to the nearest rest stop while my husband Sean stayed behind with the broken-down car. He checked the bathroom stalls for “boogiemen” so our daughter Madeline could pee without fear.

When the stress of the evening caught up and our baby Major started fussing, I was juggling calls, trying to make a plan. Without missing a beat, the trooper scooped up Major, cradled him like a natural, and gave him the bottle I had prepared earlier. He fed him patiently, expertly. He burped him. He even laughed when Major had a diaper blowout mid-feeding—and kept right on feeding him without a flinch.

He then drove us—all five of us and our mountain of bags—to a nearby hotel. It was late. Everything was closed. No rental cars were available until the morning. He unloaded every last piece of our luggage, gave my girls a hug, pointed out the nearest rental spots, and simply said: “Call me if you need anything.”

He didn’t wear a cape. He didn’t have to.

That, my friends… is humanity.