Maddie Kendall quotes from 9-1-1

Maddie

[voice-over] The Oxford Dictionary defines "rut" as "a habit or pattern of behavior that has become dull and unproductive but is hard to change." The word is also defined as "a long, deep track made by the repeated passage of the wheels of vehicles." There is some comfort to be taken in the second definition, for when you find yourself stuck in a rut, you can be sure others have been there before you.

Maddie

[voice over] Romeo and Juliet, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, Lancelot and Guinevere. Great love stories that started with a bang and ended in tragedy. In the real world, no one's life is that linear. We fall in and out of love. We take it for grant or find it where we least expect it. Some relationships can seem easy from the start and others can be faced with tremendous obstacles. We root for love to conquer all but we also root for a comeback. People who have been knocked down by life and get back up on their feet. Who learned from the mistakes that they've made and grow into better, more complete human beings. So maybe the greatest love stories aren't the ones that end in tragedies. Maybe they're the ones that start with a second chance.

Maddie

[voice-over] We all feel real high but don't tell no one, but it's how we respond that matters.

Being a 911 dispatcher will be challenging, exhausting and can take an emotional toll. The people who call in are scared, in need and we are their lifeline. But it can also be rewarding. Calling us is probably the scariest moment of their lives, but if we do our jobs right and help arrives in time, if we get a little lucky, then maybe it doesn't have to be the worst moment of their lives.

Maddie

Pressure doesn't have to break us down. It can show us who we really are.

First thing, everybody lies. Dr. Gregory House was right about that. Sometimes they know that they're lying. "Oh, I had no idea that this would happen, I just slipped and fell on the cucumber." Other times, whatever they're experiencing in the moment is scrambling their brains. They are the ultimate unreliable narrators.

Maddie

Uh, who's "Dr. House"?

You're one of those aren't you? A reader. The point is you can't trust people, only yourself. If it sounds like bull, it probably is.

Maddie

Hope is a tricky thing. It keeps you going for a while but at some point if what you're hoping for is never going to happen then it's just holding you back from your life.

Buck

Yeah but it's hard to know though right? If you're hanging on too long or giving up too soon.

Eddie

It's not normal, right? I have these moments that are good. We save someone from dying, my kid does something awesome. It's moments where I should be happy or proud or both. I know that. Just don't feel it.

There's no one right way to deal with trauma. All the first responders I counsel process it differently.

Maddie

And yet you all ask the same questions and press the same buttons. I mean, this is my third session...

You're not finding therapy helpful?

Maddie

I used to. After Doug died, I did it all: talk therapy, group therapy, cognitive processing. Spent six months just talking about my feelings.

I'm sorry none of it helped you.

Maddie

What makes you think it didn't?

'Cause you're sitting in that chair.