What does the story of life with your LEO look like? Are you writing the first few chapters where you are discovering what it is to love someone in law enforcement? Are you learning to sleep alone while he works the swing shift? Have you felt the frustration of spending all afternoon preparing a new recipe only for it to be tossed into the fridge because he’s on a late call?
Or…are you in the middle of your story where maybe things are a bit messy? Maybe you’re tired of feeling like a single parent and sick of going to backyard barbeques and get-togethers alone because it seems he is always working. Maybe the approaching holiday season just seems overwhelming. Why plan a Thanksgiving turkey if you’ll be the only one eating it…don’t even mention that you already know there’s no way he will be home Christmas morning.
In another week, my LEO and I will celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary. Do I think the story of our lives thus far would be different…would there have been less bumps in the road…if he wasn’t a LEO? To be completely honest, yes…you just simply cannot survive years of raising kids in the midst of graveyard shifts and think otherwise.
My LEO and I have chapters in our life together where everything is new and exciting. Those years were full of babies, moves to new houses, puppy adoptions…and I can’t tell you how proud I was pinning that badge on him when he graduated from the academy all those years ago.
There are chapters where I learned to be more flexible and had to adapt to changing plans and shifts. Dinners can always be reheated and I promise the best holidays are the ones spent together. Christmas can be just as special when celebrated on the 26th.
There are chapters where I did feel like a single mom…where I was tired of being lonely, drowning in a sea of diapers, and felt like a failure at being a LEOW. There are chapters where I just held on and prayed and pages that were really, really hard to write…but we plugged along…scribbling through them as best we could. They taught me that even when you think you’re on the brink of breaking, God in all of his infinite wisdom and mercy is right there.
The bottom line is that perfect, storybook marriages don’t exist…no matter what you see on someone else’s social media. Every relationship has its share of struggles and flaws…no matter what career paths are chosen. I feel beyond blessed to have an amazing husband who still loves putting on the uniform every day.
If I had to start over from the beginning, would I do it all over again? Without a doubt. Whether you are just starting out with your LEO or you’re right in the thick of this messy life, please know that God is there in the middle of it with you. My LEO has several years before he plans on retiring and we have many more chapters to write…no matter what those pages hold, I’m thankful to be right here with him.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
l Sandee l