A Police Wife’s Top-Ten Thanksgiving List

In honor of this Thanksgiving Day, I'd like to re-post an oldie, but a goodie...this wife's Top-Ten Thanksgiving list!

Enjoy everyone.  Be blessed and stay safe.

Been doing a lot of thinking.  I know, I know, that can be extremely scary.  However, with the Thanksgiving holiday heavily upon us, I have created a top ten list of things I’m thankful for this year.  I’m sure your list would be completely different, but for me, here it is in all its festive glory.

#10.  I’d like to thank all the little people…for day shift!  Yep, the Cpl. has been on days for quite a while now, but still I am thankful.  Having served his time working wee into the night hours, he’s obtained that golden sepulcher – that diamond in the rough.  The all coveted day shift status.  So now, kids, we can pull up a chair, light the candles, and throw on some music.  Daddy’s home and…oh, wait a minute, the kids are grown and it’s left-over night.  Guess he and I will just have to go out!  Gotta love it.

#9.  Being thankful for non-uniform days – complete bliss!  I’m sure you’ve heard of ‘em.  They seem to be a rarity when you’re in rookie status.  However, when a body has been in it as long as my man has, they come more and more frequently.  I’m talking about the days when uniforms take a back seat.  No need for scrounging around for those little gold pen backs in the bathroom drawer, or trying to match black socks in a sea of dark colors, because it’s non-uniform day!  They do happen, so let’s lift our hands up in praise and thanksgiving for these rare beauties. 

#8.  Thankful for dead batteries in those noisy police radios.  I know you’ve heard them.  The static and gibberish resounding from the dark closet abyss.  I’m talking days when the man is off duty and sets his radio up on the closet shelf to drain the battery in order to then properly charge it.  For hours, I find myself answering someone who is not really there.  Or perhaps, it is just noises in my head.  Whatever it is, I am thankful for the moment its life-blood drains out of it – every last squeal, static, and stagnant stammer.  Thank-you, Lord, for dead batteries and a little peace and quiet.

#7.  Thankful for human feet warmers.  This may be a new one to you, but definitely not to this old, cold-natured girl.  Because my man is now home most winter nights, I am blessed with an instant human warming machine for my delicate, beyond-belief, cold feet.  So three cheers for our warm men!  For without them, are socks would constantly be busy. 

#6.  Thankful for in-house authority over unruly neighbors.  Isn’t it great?  When you’re married to a lawman, even the neighbors sit up and take notice.  Over the years, we’ve for-the-most-part, been blessed with great neighbors.  However, there have been exceptions such as the: “I’m goddess of the neighborhood association” girl; the “she messed around, he beat her up” couple; the “let me see how loud my motorcycle can be” guy; and the “gee, I think I’ll have farm animals in the city” man.  Oh, to have a man with a badge!  It’s great ”crazy” control, for sure.

#5.  Thankful for daddy's with insight and big guns.  So, my children would probably disagree.  Yet, having a daddy that has the inside skinny on every kid in the community is a good thing when it comes to parenting….especially teenaged-daughters who date.    Yes, of course, it ruins their life.  But come, come.  Isn’t that our job anyway?  So, here’s to the inside know and scare tactics…got to love ‘em!

#4.  Thankful for license plate numbers scrawled on every sheet of paper in the house.  Is it just me?  I find these little gems everywhere.  I’ve no idea who they belong to, but by golly, they’re posted in a paper trail the size of Texas.  Makes me stop and say a prayer of thanksgiving, that mine is not one of them.

#3.  Thankful for cop shows…Can’t they get enough?  I’m not trying to be a party pooper, but they’re just not my thing.  At any given moment I might hear sirens and shouting coming from the living room.  Frightened at what I might walk into, I tippy toe around the corner to get a better look.  With a sigh of relief, I see that it’s just the Cpl. and daughter watching cop shows again.  Guess I’ll have to watch The Sound of Music by myself, lest he figure out some reason why the German Reicht didn’t put Maria in a headlock.  Sigh.

#2.  Thankful for cop genes that pour themselves into our children.  It’s inevitable.  They grow up idolizing their fathers in that uniform with its shiny buttons, pins, and badge.  They love the lights, the mystique of it all, not really realizing the blood, sweat and tears that are poured into it every single day.  Then, when they get to that age – their rite of passage, they quietly slip into the role that their father has portrayed every day of their lives.  Thank-you, God, that our son has chosen an honorable profession.  We are proud parents of a police officer!

#1.  Thankful for a God-honoring, God-fearing man in blue.  What a gift.  What a blessing.  I am thankful to have married such a wonderful, God-loving man.  He is the Lord’s agent established and blessed by God, Himself, to administer justice and to bear the sword for the good of mankind.  (Romans 13)  So for this Thanksgiving season, I will say that this police wife is thankful for her man in blue.  Without him, I would have nothing to complain about, yet nothing to be proud of.  I would have cold feet and rowdy neighbors.  My children would be hanging with less-than-desirables, and I’d have no-one to talk back to within the closet depths.  So here’s to my man.  You’re my hero, babe!

I pray that each of you will have a wonderful holiday and be blessed beyond all measure.  And, make sure that every police wife day is a day of Thanksgiving.

 ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Kristi