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First responder Valentine’s Day | San Diego couple reflects on growing closer amid COVID

For Susan Monroe’s dedication and service to her employer AMR, a picnic was given to the happy couple under the blue sky of La Jolla.

SAN DIEGO — On Susan and Darrell Monroe’s 35th Valentine’s Day together, they spent it eating an Italian lunch from atop beautiful Mt. Soledad. The high school sweethearts moved in different directions professionally but always stayed true to their dedication of service. 

Darrell, joining the Navy and Susan, staying in San Diego to become a paramedic. Working out of the back of an AMR ambulance for 31 years.

Like many health workers, the pandemic turned Susan’s professional life upside-down with grueling shifts and new protocols that pushed her to exhaustion on many days. But even through the worst of the pandemic, there was a constant at home.

“I was working 12, 16 hour days,” says Susan “When I got off work, I was coming home and making masks for coworkers and law enforcement. This guy supported me the whole time. He didn’t complain about me being gone. He doesn’t complain when I come home exhausted and need to take a nap.”

For her dedication and service to her employer AMR, a picnic was given to the happy couple under the blue sky of La Jolla.

“I don’t do my job for the thanks. I just feel like there’s so many other people that are worthy as well," explained Susan.

Not only is it a small token of gratitude for a woman who has worked on the front lines of a pandemic, but a celebration of love for a couple that grew even closer after 35 years of marriage.

“We’ve always talked, we’ve always spent time together,” says Susan “But now we’re spending more time together and enjoying each other’s hobbies. It’s just one good thing about this, is that it did bring us even closer.” 

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