‘The first thing that came to my mind. I prayed, God, please don’t let my daughter have to walk up the aisle alone.’

A good-news story, on a day when we could all use some good news:

“The first thing that came to my mind. I prayed, God, please don’t let my daughter have to walk up the aisle alone.”

. . .

Scalise, who was playing second base, was hit in the hip. When police downed the shooter, colleague Rep. Brad Westrup of Ohio, a veteran of Iraq, rushed to his side. Westrup saw no exit wound and realized from combat that internal damage was severe.

. . .

Now, at age 51 he’s learning how to walk again.

. . . Thursday Scalise returned to the House to a bipartisan standing ovation. “You have no idea how great this feels to be back here at work,” he told colleagues.

As a member of congressional leadership, Scalise had a security detail with him. If Scalise had skipped the practice, no armed security would have been on-scene.

“If you would have said at the end of this,” Scalise recalls, “the only person that would be dead would be the shooter, nobody would believe it.”

But now we can.