Grief is a lonely place, where sometimes it’s hard to connect unless someone else actually understands what you’re going through. Bryson Jones feels lucky to have found that person.
"We just kind of connected off of that and built from there," Jones said of his girlfriend, Karley Anderson.
Now teens, they were both just eight years old when they lost their fathers in the line of duty. Jones' father, Brian Jones, was with the Norfolk Police Department. Anderson's father, Ricky Carlton, served in the Polk County Sheriff's Department in Florida. Both men died in the line of duty in 2016.
This week, Bryson Jones and Karley Anderson are among those visiting D.C. for National Police Week. They attended a wreath-laying ceremony Monday morning at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland walked the perimeter, passing the names of officers from across the country who died in the line of duty. The event helps mark the start of Police Week.
"It was really hard. When I felt like I was growing up, I just felt like I didn’t have anyone that I could really talk to about it," Anderson said. "Because there's people who could understand, but it helped so much, finding someone who was my age."
The couple met through the Gary Sinise Foundation at an event at Disney World held for families of fallen first responders.
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"All the programs [that I’d been to], it was always only, like, 5-year-olds and under, or like, above 30-year-olds, so it was really different," Anderson said.
Anderson, who lives in Florida, decided to surprise her boyfriend as he finished a 250-mile ride part of the police unity tour from Norfolk to D.C.
"He was so shocked. He saw me while he was riding in and he -- he almost crashed his bike, I think," Anderson said. "He was not looking ahead of himself."
"Yeah, I wasn’t paying attention. I was completely shocked when I saw her," Jones said.
Their bond is providing healing through their shared heartache.
On Monday night, a candlelight vigil will honor the officers who lost their lives last year. The vigil begins at 8 p.m. on the National Mall.
