School glorious school

One of the many glorious things about being a police officer is the amount of schooling you still have to do once you graduate rookie school.  It makes you a better officer, it looks good on paper, such as a resume if you should ever need it.  It also makes for one tired wife.  This week the hubs has had to go to school.  He is enjoying it.  He is in class from 830 to 430, all week.  The class is about 45 minutes away.  Because of his regular work schedule he is not accustom to getting up at 5:30.  Thankfully I have been getting up earlier so the kids and I are on the ball in the mornings.  That is the plus side to school.  The down side however is that hubs is basically useless this week. 

Granted this is his long week to work and he has tried to get in some extra hours at work so he isn't so far behind on paperwork and all of that jazz.  The down side to this, is that it is baseball season in our house. Both of our boys play baseball.  One is playing tee ball, because he is only 5, the other is playing coach pitch, he is 7.  Tee ball practices one day a week, coach pitch practices 2, for an hour and a half, at 5:30. 

Schooling is an on going process, and thankfully all of hubs schools have been around here so far, thankfully.  But I am sure there will come a day when I'm not so lucky.  Until then we thank heavens for how lucky we have been thus far, and hope it stays that way.

The Chase

I like to think of myself as pretty well laid back when it comes to being an officer's wife.  Meaning the long shifts, time apart and over all concern for safety don't freak me out as much as they did at first.  When phones calls aren't answered, or returned as soon as I would like, I don't jump to conclusions.  When he is 3 hours late from a shift, I don't panic and jump in the car and ride to the PD just to check on him (mostly because now when he is 3 hours late coming home he gets here at 3 a.m. and well to be honest I am asleep).  However there is one part of the job that no matter how long I am married to the hubs it scares the ever living daylights out of me.  That my friends is a chase. 

Let me make an important point here.  A chase is part of the job, they teach how to drive a patrol car in a chase in rookie school.  It's gonna happen.  I am ok with that, and well let's face it, even if I wasn't what can I do about it, right?  Hearing about a chase afterwards doesn't bother me.  It gets me when I see my husband jump up and run out of a restaurant, or even home when he has stopped by puts me on edge. The worry comes in because we have known too many officers to have been seriously injured in chases.  I would prefer Hubs not be a statistic.

We were out to a family dinner one night and one of these calls came through.  The lady waiting on us must have saw the look on my face because she put her arm around me and said he'll be ok.  I said thank you, and I know but having to watching him run out like that scares me to no end. 

Tonight one of these lovely little calls came through.  Hubs and one of the other on duty officers stopped by the house to enjoy some fresh baked home made bread.  Just as soon as they both finished eating the call came in.  Hubs and the rookie jumped up and took off.  I had planned on showering and going to bed when they left, had it been under normal circumstances.  Now I will just try and patiently wait to hear from him.  The only real advantage to having nervous energy is that my floors get mopped.  Something good does come out of it I suppose.

Laundry Laundry Laundry

One of the many joys of the lifestyle involved with being an officer's wife is the laundry.  Now anyone will tell you laundry is a simple process, right.  You wash, you dry, you iron if need be, hang on a hanger and put away, right?  Well in my house, not so much.  There is the special detergent to keep darks from fading, and the of course the 9,202 pockets on a pair of pants to empty, and lets not forget the shirt pockets.  Oh wait I did forget the shirt pockets.  Hubs because of being a Sgt no long has to wear the basic uniform THANK HEAVENS.  He is now in slacks and a pull over shirt.  This in theory is a good thing.  However his wonderful shirts have these two handy little pen holding pockets in the sleeves.  Yes as you can imagine these two little nifty pens resting happily in the sleeve pocket while the shirt hangs on the bedpost just waiting for Laundry day.  Laundry day rolls around and as you can imagine, the 9,202 pants pockets get emptied, shirt gets picked up off the bed post and put with rest of the work clothes, never thinking about the two little nifty pen pockets on the sleeve.

I get a phone call about 4 hours later, because said shirt was placed in to dry before leaving for work that morning.  Phone call goes something similar to this:
Me:  Hey Honey
Hubs:  Do you know what you forgot to do?
Me: Not sure why don't you enlighten me
Hubs: You know that gel pen I liked so good that I said no one else could use...it was in my shirt sleeve pocket
Me: mumbles ugly words
Hubs: its on everything, you know all my work clothes in that load of laundry
Me;mumbles ugly words
Hubs: Guess  my fave shirt is ruined
Me: I'm sorry--mumbles ugly words.

So you get the jist of th giant guilt trip hubs was laying on me.  Little did he realize I have an arsenol, not only of ugly words to mumble but of ways to not have to go shopping.  So after 4 days and one can of hair spray 95% of the stain is gone.  I still have one tricky spot on the back I am working on.

Cross your fingers folks and pray it comes out, and never forget those nifty little pockets on the sleeves.

What does that mean

What does it mean to be a cop's wife? Very simply, it means that I am often left at home alone on weekends, holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries. I am a married single mother to our children, not knowing when he will be home, or if he will be called in on his days off.  It also means that I cook meals at odd hours, often for grown men that have just had a hard night or are tired of eating out and just want a home cooked meal.  I am an alarm clock because shifts are so different from time to time, a midnight laundry service because of being out on a wreck call or having to chase someone and clothes are muddy, or bloody, or who knows what else.  I am a shoulder to cry on when the calls hit a little too close to home.  I am the brunt of the anger when things get tough, just because he knows I am not going anywhere. 

It also means that person that is there with words of encouragement, when he just can't take anymore.  The person that tells reminds him just how important his job is after being called every name in the book.  I am his biggest fan, because I know how hard he worked to get where he is today and how much the nights away, bother him. 

I am also the person who gets to hear all the bad things people say about police all while biting my tongue, just until I get the chance to say my point of view.  It means being the person that everyone calls when they see blue lights and siren, just to be nosey and see what's going on. 

The main thing it means is that I am the one who sends my heart to work not knowing if it will come home. It also means, that I wouldn't trade it for all the treasure's in the world. 

If you think it’s tough being a Policeman …. try being a Policeman’s wife !!