Family Reunion

[Mitzi]

At Christmas, it's like a mini-family reunion. With 4 cops in the family, it's always interesting. They know how to drive me crazy, specially John, but I love them dearly. It's hard, when you rememeber them as litle babies in diapers and here they are, tall and proud and carrying guns.
I worry about them constantly. I couldn't bear to lose any of them.

[Joseph]

I'd say you worry to much Mitzi but I have 5 children of which none decided to get into law enforcement mainly because I tried my best to talk them out of it. My seond oldest son always wanted to be a fireman but is a contractor and makes a ton of money. He still has the desire and was very upset on 911. Many of his friends are fireman and so were there daddies who I know very well. You have to realize although it's a dangerous job we are well trained and like any professional know what to do when the situation arises. My wife when she was alive use to worry both night and day. The main thing she did was lose sleep. If this is the job they want to do you might as well except it and if God forbid anything were to happen realize that's what they wanted to do. I thought about it a lot over the years and if my life ended being a policeman doing what I loved I think people would know I enjoyed what I done and died for what I believed in. It's not all that bad and dangerous when you know what you're doing. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

[209]

Mitzi- My Mom says the same thing. Three kids, and two of us are cops. One day she and I were talking and she related that although there are two of us in LE (my sister and me), the hardest time she had was when my brother and I were both in the Marine Corps (early '70s) at the same time. And we both went overseas at about the same time. She said compared with that, LE jobs are much safer.

<small>[ 10-25-2002, 10:46 AM: Message edited by: 209 ]</small>

[Mitzi]

My son is an only child. His cousins are like his brothers and sisters. If he didn't have them, when we were gone, he'd have no one, in my mind. I know that's not true. Like me, as an adult, he'd have to do the best he can.
I don't see my son as marrying again. He has dated but is much more attuned to red flags then he was. First red flag he sees and he's out of there. He was dating a really nice girl and broke up with her. I was so surprised. I asked him why. He said,"Mom, a woman who won't eat in front of you does not a wife make. She doesn't even make a good girlfriend. She takes her food into another room to eat alone. I'm not sure I ever want to get married again." I can't blame him. His ex-wife was the woman-from-hell and he loved her very much. I guess walking in and finding your wife in bed with another man really does something to you. I know it does.(The man with his wife jumped up and ran and locked himself in another room. What a man...she must love him so much...lol) It was pretty devastating.
So, he only has his extended family. But he's an adult and has to make his way like we all do.
But I'll always worry about all of them, including my son. It's what I do best:)I wory about John the most.

<small>[ 10-25-2002, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: Mitzi ]</small>

[Snoopy1]

I feel sorry for people who give up their life's dream because a wife or parent keeps telling them it's too dangerous, they are so smart they could make tons of money doing something else, etc. When I was young I wanted to be a flight attendant but gave up because of my father and his constant worrying about everything imaginable. Perhaps I couldn't have made it anyway. I gave up without trying because of him, and for years I felt really angry and resentful. It was the last time I gave up something I wanted because of his wishes.

The worst part was that he wouldn't say anything about it to me. He would tell my mother what he thought and sit around looking like his whole world was falling apart. She did what he knew she would do - told me what he had said to her and try to convince me that I should give up. I remember one time she said she didn't know what he would be like if I had ever done anything to give them a reason to worry. I suppose in her way that was supposed to be a compliment but I thought "Great! Even she thinks he's wrong but she's siding with him."

I know he didn't approve of the person I married. The one time in his life that he was right he kept silent. He probably realized that he would just stir up a hornet's nest and not get the desired result.

[Mitzi]

Well, that's the difference with these kids. They lived their lifes dreams anyway. No one wanted them to be police officers but they did any way because it's their lives. The happiest LEO I know is my neice because this was her life long dream. She started in Exploers. She did alcohol buying busts, buying alcohol underage for the police. I knew then she was serious about her career. Her H is the same way. It's in their blood.
But I remember all the towheaded little babies running around, giggling, playing hide and seek, curls bouncing and always so much laughter. They used to come visit me a lot while growing up. I never seriously tried to stop them from becoming LEO's, just expressed my concerns.
I look at my neice, my namesake, and remember her sitting in my lap as a baby, blond curls all the way down her back, big brown eyes saying, "What's that?" to everything she saw. Now here she is 26, asking people she stops the same thing. lol
Time has passed too quickly for me.