Grateful Every Day

M y husband became a police officer directly out of college.  He went into law enforcement for all the right reasons.   He had started working on his master’s degree immediately after graduating.  His ultimate dream was to become Chief of Police.  

He worked so hard each day to be a good police officer, pulling long hours, night beats, and extra shifts.  He had what it takes and earned respect from citizens and fellow officers as calm, level, consistent, and fair in his conduct.  Because he was also young, strong, and imposing, he was designated to be the first cop through the door of a drug and gun raid of a local gang.  After several warnings went unheeded, he kicked through the door and was instantly blown back by a shot less than four feet away from a high velocity, highly modified 30 caliber carbine.  The shot ripped through him, shattering his humerus, bicep, and shoulder, and through his side into his lung.  He almost died.  Thoughts of his young family kept him breathing and alive that night.  It was January 8th (note the numbers in my username) and his life was changed forever.  

Not only was his body shattered, but so were his career dreams and the life he had imagined.  He could have taken his disability and a desk job for the remainder of his law enforcement career, but that was not his dream.  Instead he stayed in graduate school and completed his master’s degree in spite of pain medications, grueling physical therapy, and the emotional trauma he had suffered.  He started a new career and established himself as a successful and highly respected business owner.  He has made more money and lived a much more privileged lifestyle than he’d ever dreamed.  But again, that was never his dream.    

He has never played the “hurt in the line of duty and retired cop” card even when the opportunity presents itself.  He does not talk about the shooting.  He refuses to be defined by it.  Instead he defines himself by his character and the way he chooses to live each day.  

I am the lucky person who shares his life.  I am in awe of this man as a husband and father and I am witness to the real love he shows us each and every day.  I do not take for granted that he is with me, because he came so close to being taken away that early January morning.