{Beware…it’s a long one folks! But when your life is taking a different path, well this is what you get from me.}

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Today is a mix of emotions kind of day. It’s my husband’s last day as a police officer. It will be the first time in 15 years that he will not be serving his Country as a Marine and Community here at home. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard “you must be excited John is getting out.” Being married to a law enforcement officer (LEO) has its challenges. John worked nights, which meant the day was used for sleeping. The crazy hours and shift work made our family accustom to him missing many events and delaying holidays or other celebrations. You get used to “I’m going to be late, I’m on a call” or “I picked up an extra job on my only day off”, or in the middle of dinner in a restaurant he has to take off because he has to head to an emergency.
Then, of course, there is the inherent fear and worry that a supervisor will knock on your door in the middle of a shift to bring devastating and life-changing news. I haven’t had a supervisor knock on my door, but I have had my phone ring with scary news waiting for me when I answered. You learn playing the “what if game” makes it worse. It’s hard to keep the devil out of your mind when he has to go mid sentence on a phone call when you are trying to tell him goodnight and you don’t hear from him for hours. This mommy of 2 had to hold down the fort.

So….am I excited? Yes, I am excited that I won’t have to feel relieved to hear the velcro of his vest tearing apart when I am half asleep. I am pumped that he will be home at night for dinner and to help put our five and two year old to bed.  Our kids will have their Daddy!!

But you know what, as scary as this life can be, the amount of hours this job takes from our family, the despicable amount of money officers make…I will miss this life TONS. I really did love being a police wife! We have gained a family. There are tons of men and women that would have my husband’s back in a heartbeat! My kids think of police officers as heroes and in today’s world we simply need more of that. And Karlo, you’ll meet him when you scroll down…Karlo taught a lot of people that police dogs aren’t these scary monsters society paints them to be. Lyla is devastated Karlo will no longer be part of our family. But I give credit to my husband. He LOVES this job, John is great at his job. He does’t WANT to leave this job but feels its the best for our family. Which sucks because I have always said, he was put on this planet to be a police officer. But we both need to embrace this change in our life and see what this next stage has in store for us.

A ginormous shout out to one of our favorite people on this planet, Lindsey! She knows how hard of a decision this was for John and how much we will both miss this. Thanks for documenting this for us, girl!!!