Roomies Reunited

It only took eighteen months for B. and both of his roommates to all get together.  The last time the three of them were together was at graduation.  We have gotten together with each roommate and their girlfriends separately, but not all six of us.  It's as if we picked up where we left off.  It was great being able to enjoy each other's company.  The guys of course discussed work incidents all night long and the girls and I were giggling most of the night.  This is just a preview of Vegas!

Although, there is an age difference between us, there is a common bond we all share.  The guys spent nearly everyday of their lives together for over six and a half months and the girls experienced the Academy, Break In and life with a CHP Officer.  Veteran CHP Wives were not kidding that no one will understand the CHP life like another CHP Wife/Girlfriend/Partner.  We never complained that it took a long time to get this reunion together.  We knew that days off were just not going to line up.  I'm so glad that the three officers are now working much closer together and nights like this can happen more often.  I love my CHP family. 

Two years ago...(oh and a day)

Two years ago, 143 cadets step foot onto the grounds of the CHP Academy as CTC II-13. Where did the time go? If feels as if this was just yesterday. The 27 weeks of the Academy were both the longest and fastest times of my life. The longest days of being the only parent at home and the fastest 27 weeks of seeing cadets grow to become officers. 18 months have passed since graduation day and the 95 officers who graduated are dispersed all over the state. Many families moved along with their officer to locations hundreds of miles away. A group recently transferred in hopes of getting closer to home.

I wouldn't trade our CHP life for anything.  It has opened doors of friendship and trust that no one will understand better. For those families in the process, be strong, be patient. It's a long journey. 

Thanks again for reading. 

Amynoellemaia@gmail.com

Probation, Vacation and Back to Work

So I just realized that last post I published was B.'s accident.  He's totally fine now, but it was a scary night that many other wives have experienced. 

B. passed probation in March.  Woohoo!  The first year flew by so fast.  I felt like graduation was just yesterday.  It's awesome that he loves his job.  He never understood how much I loved going to work.  But now he totally does.  B. said he knew he wanted to be in law enforcement when he was a child.  He even mentioned it when we were dating.  I told him that I would never marry a cop.  Lucky for him, I married him before he became one. 

B. was on vacation for seven weeks a little after passing probation.  Yes, you read that right, SEVEN WEEKS!  He has never taken off more than a week or two with the exception of our children being born.  We finally took that vacation to Europe, with two kids in tow.  It was amazing to have him around 24 hours a day exploring with our kids.  We will definitely need to go back, maybe without the kids.  We love them to pieces, but there were some things we could not enjoy with them there.  There's only so much of a museum our kids could take.  At the Louvre, they were more interested in the pools of water outside than the art inside. 

After Europe, we were off to Vegas with one of B.'s CHP roommates and his girlfriend.  We had planned this trips months ago and it happened to land on fight weekend.  The four of us had a blast.  We were missing the other two from our group, but hope to all get together next year.  B. and I hadn't been to Vegas in over six years and it was the first time ever I had been away from my kids for more than a day.  It was definitely weird for me to be away from them, but I enjoyed being able to do things I typically wouldn't or couldn't do with them.  We went out one night and didn't make it back to our hotel until the sun was coming up. 

I was spoiled that B. was off and at home.  It was an adjustment for all of us when he did go back to work.  Graveyard shift it was.  My days of being a "single" parent and the empty side of the bed returned.  Our normal without having B. at home was back.  The girls fell right back into their normal routine.  B. is able to take them to school in the morning and then come home to sleep.  We've been able to drop off dinner and see him in uniform since he's been back.  The excitement the girls have to see him at work is still there.  The light up each and every time. 

Another class graduates in under two weeks.  Congratulations to all the families.  Soak in this time.  It's just the beginning of this amazing ride. 

Thanks again for all the support and interest in this blog.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I could reach out to so many people. 

-CHP Wife
Amynoellemaia@gmail.com

Are you OK?

It's great to hear from your Officer when they're able to check in during their shift. Just to say hello or good night. Not so great when your hear, "I've been in an accident. I'm ok. Watch the news. I gotta go."  I got one of those calls. You barely have time to process the words before he has to hang up. Millions of thoughts and images run through your head. Is he really ok? Or he is just saying that so I don't worry. 

I got on Twitter as fast as I could. The news stations had posts. There were pictures and even videos. The early posts had conflicting information. I tried texting B. back. I didn't hear back from him. 

I usually don't watch the nightly news, but I guess people still do. Around 10:00, I started receiving texts. That's not B., right? When I replied, Yes, the overwhelming answer was, "Oh my gosh!"

It was a very long and sleepless night. I couldn't sleep not hearing back from him and following the news on my phone. There was definitely an angel watching over him. We finally got to talk on the phone the next morning and I rushed home from work to see him before he left for work again. "Are you ok?"All I could do was hug him and hold back tears.