8 years.

Time sure goes fast.  8 years ago today I married the best Man EVER!  He is kind and caring, and well let’s face it he puts up with me!

He has been in Law Enforcement for the last 6 years.  Before that he was gone doing road construction.

Maybe that is why time seems to have gone so fast. I don’t know.  I asked him yesterday if there as anything he would change. He said no. Well maybe we would have been smarter with money. But what family doesn’t say that?

I can’t say there is much I would change.  Because if I were to change one thing then who knows what else that would have changed, and we have a great life together!  

It has been a great anniversary. The days before we went on Vacation, saw my parents, and even had time for date!

Today (which is really the day after our anniversary) Dino and Lilly start school. First and second grade already!  It has been a great year.  I love you T-rex!!

Hippies and drunks

Sounds like normal dinner conversation around here.

T-rex called me to laugh about his latest call.  Hippies, no like real hippies, not this generation hippy, but like the 60 kind . . . just as old too.  Something about rebelling in you 70’s just isn’t as cool.  There were some things my parents were right about. Hippies weren’t doing anything illegal, or too bad, just being strange.

He came home late, not that I noticed, or cared until he woke me up. Drunks were walking around the county, out of city limits so he had to deal with it. He should have just left em to get ran over, but being the good guy he is, he took care of it. And this is typical. Late because of something so dumb, busy because people in a small town can’t stand strange people. I think he has gotten a call saying something like “this guy is from the city and looks funny.”  He has to go check it out, because as crazy as society is you never know.

I wish he could deal with society how I deal with the kids when they start to cry.  Two questions are asked before I move. 

“Hey whoever is crying!  Are you bleeding?” 

“Are you on fire?”

If the answers are no then I don’t move. 

I guess I should ask “Is a bone broken?”  But eh

T-rex could ask questions like

“are you drunk?”

“Is your IQ above that of a tree?”

“is there a gun in your face. . like right now?”

And if the answers are no then T-rex does not have to go out.  Sometimes I think it might do a person good to not have a cop right there to help them out of their mess.  But then again it is great to know that no matter what T-rex will be there to help. . . .

Very odd

A Cop on vacation is a very odd thing.  Not sure how Much I love this.  It is great to see him, but very odd to have him in the house! 

If we last the rest of this vacation month we might make it a yearly thing.  . .I think I could only do this once a year!

We're roommates until Friday.

Growing up my dad gave me some good advice and a lot of bad advice too!  But one thing he told me that had always stuck with me was that people can be married and happy without being IN love as long as they love each other.  

This stuck with me because when I got married I was not in the butterfly mad love. I just loved T-rex, I knew that no matter what happened in life I would always care about him, and somehow I knew I would be able to put up with him. 

I am not sure he always feels like he can put up with me.

I think the added stress of being a police officer, the long hours, strange hours, and typical stress that only a cop’s wife knows about makes it harder. We are learning to deal with these things and still find times when we can be IN love. Yet it is hard. And it really seems that when T-rex is feeling the love I am feeling like a roommate. 

We have found the schedule that works best for both of us, typically nights. We have found the things we need to do for each other to make this work. T-rex has to give me a day off every now and again. I also have to stop getting on him about house stress the minute he comes home. Like all things there needs to be a balance. 

I have seen too many fall into divorce because they are still working on the balance, or even more than that they fall into the roommate phase and think something is wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with that in itself. It becomes a problem when there really is no way getting out if it. But even then with a little work falling in love is not too hard.

All things have ups and downs.  I think the ups and downs are a little closer together, and a little bigger with cops.

So yeah we might be little more than roommates until Friday, work, kids and life get in the way.  But in the end We are always husband and wife. I love you T-rex!

Hang on babe, I lost my Gun

So, we had a bad night of storms.  First T-rex, the kids and I went for a drive but had to cut it short because of the tornados just a county over.  The sky looked nasty.  When we got home the children and I bunked out in the basement as T-rex stayed up stairs to keep an eye on the weather. 

The power went out after about 15 minutes; we made it home just in time.  Candles were going, and all was well. Until I saw the inch or so of water just creeping in under the baseboards.  T-rex came down to see how we were doing, and help mop up the water. It was stressful.  Why is it that children always get in the way MORE when parents are stressing out?  We would get towels down for one spot of the basement to find another flooding. Our bedrooms are all in the basement, our computer, T.V. and with little kids’ rooms it seemed every corner that was flooding was also a place to hide cloths!

About 20 minutes later the power turned back on, and we spent another 20 with the carpet cleaner getting more water up.   With everything as dry as we could get it, and the children in bed T-rex and I went upstairs for a movie and time to relax before the next storm came in. 

I noticed there was his ammo clip just sitting on the end table. One bullet out like he had been messing around with his gun, trigger pulls, aiming, or something like that.  But no gun was to be found.

T-rex lost it when the power went out!!

Somehow this seemed perfectly natural and normal.  No not that he misplaces his gun a lot! But that something like this would happen.

As I was looking in the typical places I realized that there is not a typical place to misplace a gun!  Not like my cell phone which ends up in the bathroom closet a lot, or the keys which end up on the wrong kitchen counter from time to time, or even the remote which has a habit of being found in the refrigerator. Nope, no place seemed like a natural place for a gun to go missing off to.  Yet we knew it had to be in the house someplace.   

How many families would loss a gun and just laugh about it?  We did!  We knew it was unloaded, and that the kids were in bed so we had time to look, we also knew that if one of the children did find it they would come and tell us.  But I think most people would have been worried at least a little.

We found it in less than 5 minutes.  It had fallen behind the couch when he got up to come help me down stairs.  I think that is one part of being married to a cop I will never fully get used to.

  My dad always had guns, we had them hanging from the wall when I was little. But there was a fear of guns put into me and my sisters.  I have to say I don’t much like gun.  I know how to shoot, and I do okay. But you can tell I am afraid of the thing by the way I hold it.  T-rex holds his gun like it’s his best friend; they are buddies and pals and might go out for drinks after work!  I guess that is a good thing, because that gun might save his life . . . if he knows where it’s at!

A cop’s guide a spouses Birthday:

I have had the worst birthdays in the past years. T-rex has been working, has been gone, and has gone golfing!

The kids are a mess, we are always broke, and I end up making my own cake, and not going out.

Yet part of this I am sure is my fault, because I usually also forget my birthday is coming up until like the day of it. Call it mom brain, but I think I get it from my Father.

So this year I am going to help T-rex out, and all the other Cop’s who need to help with their wife’s birthday, even on a cop’s pay!

1.       If you can get the day off of work!

2.       Don’t go play golf!

3.       If you cannot make a cake, go get one! This can even be the only thing you buy her this year.

4.       Cook every meal you can, or go out.  But if a sitter is needed you get it! And pick a place you think she will like.  But the point is DON’T bug her with it.  Just make sure food is provided during the day.

5.       Let your wife lock herself in her room, nap, eat cake, and ignore the children even if it is just for a few hours.

6.       Don’t let the house fall apart when she is away from it all!

7.       Invite a few close friends over for BBQ, or pizza. Nothing to fancy unless she wants that. But friends so she knows it was cool she was born

8.       Run a bath for her, light a few candles.

9.       GET A CARD! Or make one, but something with words about love and funny stuff.

10.   Let her sleep in, you can run the kids to school, and taken them on ALL the errands.

Okay so mostly this applies to Stay at home moms who are married to a cop. . . Maybe this is just what I want this year. .  .think it’s a good enough hint?  I tell ya, before I had kids my parties may not have been big, but I didn’t have little children trying to eat my cake!

Taser, not a gun, same rules apply!!

Teaching kids, all kids, about gun safety is important. I find that we have to go over the rules about once a week with our young children, 7, 6, and 3. They tend to forget things from time to time. Still, they have done a very good job.  They know they cannot touch T-rex’s gun, or any gun, they know they should treat every gun like it could kill someone, and all that good stuff. 

T-rex also does a good job at keeping his guns out of reach. I wish I could say the same about his Taser!  He came home for lunch today, which is always nice.  Until he leaves something at home. . . like his Taser!

Dino came from cleaning the bathroom holding it up at me. “Daddy left his traser here!” (Yes she says it with the extra R).

I have to say I panicked a little.  I didn’t know where he was, it can take almost an hour for him to get back home if he is on the other side of the county, and I did know if he needed.  But more than anything I didn’t want to get Tased!

We have now had to expand the gun rules to apply to Tasers.  We might have to expand the rules to apply to anything that is related to daddy’s work.  . . .Don’t touch it, get an adult!