A Tea Party for Two
Little girl enjoys a tea party with the police officer who saved her life.
By Kerri Adams, HeroFuel® Reporter
Two-year-old Bexley Norvell sat across the way from Corporal Patrick Ray at a small well-dressed table.
Bexley stared wide-eyed at Ray with an Oreo cookie in her mouth as he poured her a small cup of tea.
It may just be a tea party to some, but for these two, it was an incredible celebration. Bexley would have never been able to wear her pink dress, pearls and floral headband if it wasn’t for Corporal Ray.
A year before, Bexley was discovered unresponsive by Officer Ray. She was not breathing and had already turned blue by the time he arrived at the scene.
“When I looked at her, I just saw these big, blue eyes looking at me. It was almost like she was telling me, ‘I know you’re here to help me,’” said Ray.
“Her lips were completely blue,” said Tammy Norvell, Bexley’s mother to CNN.
Ray then tried to clear her throat and a few minutes later, she began breathing again.
“It was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard in my entire life,” said Ray to CBS DFW Local.
Apparently, Bexley had swallowed a small coin.
Bexley’s mother still brims with gratitude as she recalls how Ray arrived at the scene just in time.
“I could not believe how fast he got here,” said Norvell to CNN.
“Today could be the day I was picking out a casket for my little girl. Every parent’s nightmare, I could be living it right now. I won’t ever forget this man and I told his wife, you know I’m going to think of your husband every single day for the rest of my life and I hope she’s okay with that.”
Officer Ray even checked in on Bexley while she was at the hospital.
“Last time I checked, that was not their job description,” said Norvell.
The amazing rescue was captured entirely on film since Ray was wearing a body camera at the time.
Fast forward to a year after the incident, the Norvell family developed a rather enchanting way to honor Corporal Ray.
“I wanted to make something positive out of a negative thing,” said Norvell. “I’m not going to let someone like that walk out of my life.”
They invited him to a tea party for two and he agreed to attend “with no hesitation whatsoever.”
Luckily, for the rest of us, photographer Chelle Cates was also in attendance. She captured the entire adorable affair.
“We do tea parties all the time, but we don’t normally invite grown men to them,” said Cates.
Corporal Ray came dressed in his blue uniform, while Bexley was all dolled up in pink. The gracious host, who was boosted up by a blanket, offered Ray his own blanket, but he politely declined.
Ray and Bexley sat together as they properly sipped tea, nibbled on cookies and exchanged smiles.
Not only did Bexley love dressing up with her favorite hero, but she was gifted with a new culinary experience, tasting an Oreo for the first time. Her mother said “she definitely enjoyed every crumb of it.”
Everyone felt that it was the perfect way to celebrate Bexley’s rescue. A whimsical celebration of a young girl’s imagination and the man whose heroism ensured its prosperity.
“[That] day is right up there with my children’s births,” said Norvell to The Huffington Post. “It has made me want to change people’s images and thoughts about these men and women that serve us everyday.”
