Last week was National Police Week. If you are like me, I had never even heard or paid attention to this week before M1 went into law enforcement. The city M1 works for hosted a memorial service at a local park and invited the public to come. It was M1's day off, but we got the kids dressed and piled them into the van. We listened to the speakers, saw the flag fly at half mast, and heard the 3 gun salute. As I looked around I noticed that our girls were the only children there. A handful of people from the public came. In 2011 there were 162 law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. As we headed back to the van M1, in full dress uniform, was walking next to his 4 yr old, D6, her pig tails bobbing and her little hand engulfed in his large one......
Lights and sirens behind...you curse and get angry...what a jerk to mess up your day like this. Isn't he just trying to get his quota of tickets for the day? But what has he really been doing? He has been responding to calls for help - a vicious husband choking his wife in front of their toddler in a highchair, searching for a vehicle that people saw a man shoving a woman into against her will, rushing a 19 yr old girl to the hospital who was found unconscious by a pool and is suffering from alcohol poisoning, calling her mother who is far away and telling her what has happened to her daughter, scouring the trails of a park in the dark looking for a missing person, reassuring and advising four scared college girls after their apartment has been robbed, arresting a person high on drugs who caused a vehicle accident and having that person scream profanities at him until they are handed off at the jail, trying to make peace between a confrontational dad and his out-of-control teenage son, comforting a wife whose husband just put a bag over his head and ended his life. In between all this drama he tries to keep people on the road safe. So, next time you get stopped think about what that officer may have been facing in the line of duty that day and maybe you can thank him for what he does......because probably somewhere in one of those 162 households a little pig tailed girl doesn't have her daddy's hand to hold anymore.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Four days of nothing but working and sleeping then two days of off-duty work leaving about a day to spend together as a family. It has been months since M1 has had more than one day at home( that "one day" really being two half days at different ends of the week). I have been looking forward to this week for so long. It has been a bright spot on the calendar. THREE solid days together as a family. So......we went camping. Do you know what it takes to pack a family of 10 for a three day camping trip? Let me shed a little light on that....
To gain as much time as possible with M1 the girls and I had everything packed and in the living room ready to load into the van and trailer. 10 backpacks, 10 fold up chairs, 9 sleeping bags, 9 camping pads, 3 army-sized duffels, 3 hard camp boxes, 3 open topped totes, 2 tents, 1 air mattress, 1 ice chest, 1 port-a-crib, 1 umbrella stroller, 1 portable highchair, 1 baby backpack carrier, 1 blow up baby pool, and lots of small sundry items.
Each older girl packed her bag and then "their child's" bag. They put them on the sofa and set out the outfit to wear in front of their bag. (This required washing all the dirty clothes the day before in a massive washing day....probably 10 loads of clothes). I had a detailed list set out on the table and assigned different girls to retrieve items from the far corners and put it in the living room. I did the running around town...... like pick up the van from the auto repair, get a vehicle inspection sticker, drop off uniforms at cleaners, grocery shop, and help raise the stock for bug-juice and sunscreen companies.
When M1 woke up at 10:30 am the girls were practically sitting in the van waiting to leave. M1 hooked up the trailer to the van, we loaded everything in, EVERYONE WENT THE BATHROOM, and we were off........then it started to rain. It was a little sobering to see a lightning show in the sky as we were headed to our destination. I was hoping the tents were still water resistant and the wind didn't blow us into another state. M1, D1, D2, and I set up the tents in record time in the rain. We left everything else in the covered trailer and decided this was a good time to take advantage of our 1 meal out in the camping budget. Dressed in wind breakers, we all trooped into a local establishment not far from the state park. We got nervous glances from people as we entered....some even got up and left in a hurry. We got seated in the back. The girls have wonderful manners, though, and by the time we left people were coming up to us and complementing our kids behavior and the waitress was dumbfounded that they are ALL ours and "Heavens, no twins!"
We had a great time......lots of laughs, lots of time with Daddy, lots of sand. Of course, there is always some arguments, tiffs between sisters, the screaming 2 yr old who got sunscreen in her eyes and pooped in the public bathroom shower, and the child who left one tent unzipped at night and everyone in that tent was covered in mosquito bites the next morning. We don't get to stay in fancy places or go to museums or see tourist destinations, but we were together.......sharing our moments both good and bad, and that is the richness we give our girls.
To gain as much time as possible with M1 the girls and I had everything packed and in the living room ready to load into the van and trailer. 10 backpacks, 10 fold up chairs, 9 sleeping bags, 9 camping pads, 3 army-sized duffels, 3 hard camp boxes, 3 open topped totes, 2 tents, 1 air mattress, 1 ice chest, 1 port-a-crib, 1 umbrella stroller, 1 portable highchair, 1 baby backpack carrier, 1 blow up baby pool, and lots of small sundry items.
Each older girl packed her bag and then "their child's" bag. They put them on the sofa and set out the outfit to wear in front of their bag. (This required washing all the dirty clothes the day before in a massive washing day....probably 10 loads of clothes). I had a detailed list set out on the table and assigned different girls to retrieve items from the far corners and put it in the living room. I did the running around town...... like pick up the van from the auto repair, get a vehicle inspection sticker, drop off uniforms at cleaners, grocery shop, and help raise the stock for bug-juice and sunscreen companies.
When M1 woke up at 10:30 am the girls were practically sitting in the van waiting to leave. M1 hooked up the trailer to the van, we loaded everything in, EVERYONE WENT THE BATHROOM, and we were off........then it started to rain. It was a little sobering to see a lightning show in the sky as we were headed to our destination. I was hoping the tents were still water resistant and the wind didn't blow us into another state. M1, D1, D2, and I set up the tents in record time in the rain. We left everything else in the covered trailer and decided this was a good time to take advantage of our 1 meal out in the camping budget. Dressed in wind breakers, we all trooped into a local establishment not far from the state park. We got nervous glances from people as we entered....some even got up and left in a hurry. We got seated in the back. The girls have wonderful manners, though, and by the time we left people were coming up to us and complementing our kids behavior and the waitress was dumbfounded that they are ALL ours and "Heavens, no twins!"
We had a great time......lots of laughs, lots of time with Daddy, lots of sand. Of course, there is always some arguments, tiffs between sisters, the screaming 2 yr old who got sunscreen in her eyes and pooped in the public bathroom shower, and the child who left one tent unzipped at night and everyone in that tent was covered in mosquito bites the next morning. We don't get to stay in fancy places or go to museums or see tourist destinations, but we were together.......sharing our moments both good and bad, and that is the richness we give our girls.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
It is 12:30am and I am holding two flashlights while M1 has both hands down into a mass of wires under the hood of our 15 passenger van. He had 5 hrs of sleep and then got called in on his day off, pulling 9 hours.
D1 is the "Assistant Cook" and I got her started on supper about 4:30. At 5:30 we called everyone in from the various corners of our domain to feed the hungry. We were headed to a small group Bible study that evening, so everyone helped "their child" get cleaned up and dressed while I fixed M1's food and left it on the table. He skidded into the driveway just as I was giving directions to load everyone into our 15 passenger van. I had tried to get our state inspection sticker that morning for the van but the back lights were not working, so on the way to the study M1 stopped by the auto parts store and replaced two fuses. When the study was over about 9pm we got all the kids in the van and...... it was completely dead.....the battery was working but there was apparently a short somewhere. I was dropped off at home by some friends and picked up our other car, went back, piled the kids in, and brought them home. Everyone helped "their child" get pj's on and get to bed....I headed back to help M1. Everything he checked was still working, so he put it all back together and we headed home.
We sit on the sofa in the dark at 1:30am. My head is resting on his shoulder. I ask him about his day. Statutory rape, burglary, warrant arrest, domestic violence. All in a day's work. He has to leave early in the morning for his off-duty part-time job, then he goes back to work the next day. I hold his hand and pray for strength.....there are so many things that have piled up that we need to talk about, but there is no time. He is exhausted......maybe next week.
D1 is the "Assistant Cook" and I got her started on supper about 4:30. At 5:30 we called everyone in from the various corners of our domain to feed the hungry. We were headed to a small group Bible study that evening, so everyone helped "their child" get cleaned up and dressed while I fixed M1's food and left it on the table. He skidded into the driveway just as I was giving directions to load everyone into our 15 passenger van. I had tried to get our state inspection sticker that morning for the van but the back lights were not working, so on the way to the study M1 stopped by the auto parts store and replaced two fuses. When the study was over about 9pm we got all the kids in the van and...... it was completely dead.....the battery was working but there was apparently a short somewhere. I was dropped off at home by some friends and picked up our other car, went back, piled the kids in, and brought them home. Everyone helped "their child" get pj's on and get to bed....I headed back to help M1. Everything he checked was still working, so he put it all back together and we headed home.
We sit on the sofa in the dark at 1:30am. My head is resting on his shoulder. I ask him about his day. Statutory rape, burglary, warrant arrest, domestic violence. All in a day's work. He has to leave early in the morning for his off-duty part-time job, then he goes back to work the next day. I hold his hand and pray for strength.....there are so many things that have piled up that we need to talk about, but there is no time. He is exhausted......maybe next week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)