It is hard to believe that one year ago Chris officially began working for the Leon County Sheriff’s office.  My feelings and attitude about the whole thing have changed drastically over the course of the past 365 days!  

In February of 2009 when Chris told me he wanted to enroll in the nine month (every night of the week plus every Saturday over the summer) police academy, I was so against it.  He had just lost his job at the credit union a few weeks prior to that but I was certain he would find something either in banking or IT.   I reasoned that those jobs should come close to the salary he was making and get us back on track before his severance package ran out.  In my wildest dreams I had never imagined being married to a law enforcement officer.  He was set on the idea though and argued that this would give him the days to continue to look for another job.  He also said that taking all he had learned about banking over the past ten years and adding law enforcement training should allow him to look for work in financial crimes or even internet crime with all his IT background.   I hoped and prayed he was right and that if he was going to do it hopefully he would have that kind of position so it would keep him off the streets fighting crime with a gun.

The nine months Chris was in the academy were the same nine months (almost exactly) that I was pregnant with twins as a gestational carrier for one of my dear friends (I’ll tell that story someday in another blog).  Needless to say it was a very emotional and trying time and I would have prefered to have him home at night to help me get through, but God has a way of taking the toughest times and turning them into good.  We gained so much strength and perspective during that year.  We didn’t know it then, but it was helping prepare us for our current schedule and all the time apart because Chris is working nights.

I remember the stage that the boys were in when Chris started in the academy and even when he first started his job.  They were struggling with pressures from friends and they were unfortunately not surrounded by the best of influences.  They were negative about the idea of their Dad going into law enforcement for very different reasons than I was negative about it.  Poor Chris – he was not getting nearly the kind of support and encouragement which he probably wanted and certainly deserved!  Since that time Conner and Chase have both been taking criminal justice classes at school and they have matured so much.  The anniversary of Chris’ first day on the job is also an anniversary for Conner and Chase of a very serious life lesson they had to learn the hard way.  I won’t say more about that here because it is their story to tell, not mine.   Suffice it to say they have grown up through consequences this year while Chris has been growing in his new profession.  It is wonderful to see how far we have all come in a year!