I am so happy to share the news that Tom also has the job of his dreams! He waited for the last decade to hear this call. And this was his reaction to the excitement:

Tom-It’s not that it’s a job offer. It’s that it is THE job. Like if a genie said I could have any job, I would pick this one. Or maybe an astronaut. I want to live on the space station but with the flexibility of coming home every night.

He will be starting his new job as a police officer here in the next couple weeks. I could not be more proud of him! He has been waiting so long for this dream to come to fruition. Despite so many nay-sayers out there, he kept at it and added on credentials so departments could not say no. And here we are!

He will be going through the police academy for three months at the start of the new year. It will be much different than trainings that he has had in the past because he comes home every night, but it will be tough none the less.

There are parts of me that are a little scared of this profession. It seems as though we celebrated him leaving one dangerous profession to go straight into another one. There are a lot of similarities but a lot that will be different as well.

We are in a time where every move of a police officer is being watched and many fingers are being pointed at them. I am afraid that there are blanket statements being made about police officers because of the actions of a few. Because of this, I feel that many departments will not be supported by their communities and officers will be left hanging There is also the possibility that they will have even bigger targets on their backs. It scares me that many of them will be alone now. I hope that people realize that there are thousands of officers out there that put their life on the line for this country, but unfortunately now all of them are being put in this “bad and untrustworthy” category just because they wearing a badge.

Not all cops are bad. In fact, I have read it in many places that less than 1% of that profession are doing things that are corrupt. Which is a better rate than you can find in most professions.

Blaming the masses never helps any group.

Do I think that there needs to be change in this country? Absolutely.

We all need to be a little more human. We need to listen more to the complexity of the situation, and that includes both sides.

We just need to listen more period.

What I think is happening instead of having compassion is that people are using hate to make change, which in my opinion changes nothing. Or changes things, but not for the betterment of the whole entity. But I digress.

I know that being in law enforcement is Tom’s dream, and he is going to be a great cop. Much like his dream to be in the military, I know that he goes into it not for the heroism or for the accolades. He goes into this job because he wants to make a difference.

Throughout my career, I have had the pleasure of working with some fantastic officers who put it all out there for their communities and the students we work with. They have always wanted to act in a way to make positive change. I always look forward to that partnership. On many occasions they made my job easier because of their actions (whether it was reactive or proactive).

Here are a couple videos that serve as a reminder of the definition of a cop. These are videos to highlight that there are moments where decisions have to be made in split second to save lives. Watch this and this. Sorry for the language and some of the images shown., but it is the reality that I think is overlooked while fingers are pointed. This article is a little more tarty in how it gets the message across, but I think there are some good points about some double standards we have for the profession. They [police officers] deal with some pretty heavy things; things that most of us could not fathom doing once in a lifetime let alone every day. While I do think there is a difference because of some of the things cops are tasked with doing and there are expectations because of that grave responsibility, I just don’t understand the mentality of putting them all in a box when we go to evaluate their effectiveness.

These are sides I think that we all like to forget in the midst of the troubles in our society.

For those of us who are close to a cop, it is all too real to accept they may not come home today.

And while I know that there are people who may disagree with me and say that I don’t see the injustice that is going on, believe me, I see it. I am seeing it in a lot of places.

I may not have the personal perspective to speak about every injustice, I do have the personal perspective of watching my husband embark on the path to take another oath to serve and protect. Another oath to put his life on the line. So I am speaking from my view and my circle, and I acknowledge my privileged with that.

To be honest with you though, I am stricken with fear that he won’t come home because something went array. Or that something could happen that will cost him his dream.

My husband could be Darren Wilson. They are the same age and the same build. Would Tom have reacted the same way? Maybe yes maybe no, but it is possible for him to find himself in a similar situation. It is hard for me not to see that, and I understand that I need to unpack so many things with that complexity. I do know that Tom is going to do what is within his means to protect this community against threats and come home to George and I. He will react how he was trained and will make a judgement call to that situation. Some people may not agree with that mentality, but I am going to stand behind him as he goes into this career.

While they have some terrible things they have to face, I am excited to see how Tom infuses himself in our community. He has a deep love for his hometown. Seriously he could be a walking billboard for the place, and I am fairly positive he has tried convincing all of our friends to move here. I know that he is going to have a positive impact through his job and plans to give back in so many ways. I see Tom doing things like this, this, and this. Oh and this.

Police Officers are to be community builders and helpers. This is how we grew up knowing them, and I want people to see my husband that way too.