Every Story Has a Beginning
Hi, I’m B, a police wife. I’ve had this constant nagging in my head to start a blog that might help LEO spouses relate to one another. In this blog, I will tell you the grit, the hurt, the passion, the nitty gritty of what comes with being “the forgotten badge wearer”. This blog won’t always be positive, but I hope that you always find it relatable. We wear the badge on the home front. Let’s share our story and find peace in each other--become our own department.
Before I get into the current stuff, we must look back at the beginning.
I met my husband in high school. We grew up most of our life in a small, “good ole boy” town. At the time of meeting, we both were dating other people. My husband and I got closer in our show choir class. He was lead tenor and I was the dance captain. We were friends...good friends...nothing more. We both went through break-ups at the same time. In the moment, we didn’t understand why, but it soon made sense when our ex’s started dating. My soon-to-be future husband joked that maybe we should go on a date; let me tell you...I intentionally ignored it! He was annoying, loud, and waaayyy too wild for me. That was, until I actually spent a day with him. That day changed our lives FOREVER. I fell madly in love. I saw who he was on the inside, and that was a boy who knew himself, who didn’t take crap from no one, and who expressed every emotion (yes, even sadness) he felt. This guy was in tune, and I wanted that for the rest of my life.
He graduated two years before me, but we continued dating through almost (not going into those details) all of it. We experienced it all--well, or so we thought. In May, I officially graduated high school; by that following September, we were married. We had a perfect textbook marriage!
I know, I know, you’re waiting for when we get to him becoming a LEO. Here it is: We were up late one night watching Southland, (if you have not watched this show--WATCH IT!) my husband looked over at me and said, “I want to be a police officer.” I laughed, until I realized he was dead serious. Me being typical me completely supported his idea. He went to the local police academy the next day and started the classes a week or two later. I truly thought it would be like all the other classes he’d taken. He did EMT school and Fire 1 & 2 to no avail. Clinically he was amazing; pen to paper, nada. Within a couple weeks of schooling though, I KNEW this was it. My husband had finally found his calling, his purpose. I was happy for him, ecstatic really. He finished a year later and was immediately hired by an instructor for the town we lived in.
That first department...PERFECTION. He was able to come home during shifts, he worked whatever schedule he wanted to, the job was as busy as you made it. It did not last though. His friends who went to a bigger, neighboring city talked about the balls to walls style of working they did and my husband craved it. We agreed he could apply, and that was the one time I should have told him, “NO!”
Of course he got hired, he was wonderful at what he did, but this new department lacked what our local one had--a family focus. This new department changed him, changed us. And as if we weren’t already struggling with that change, we brought a wonderful kiddo into the world in the middle of it. Looking back, our lives did a complete 180 degree turn. Who we had become (and slightly still are) was nothing that even shadowed who we were before.
My husband has been with this new department almost three years; we’ve been married five years in September. We have been through so much, and I know there is more to come.
I will definitely jump into the changes that occurred on my next entry. But for now, you know the beginning...and this is only the beginning.