Being a Cop Wife

In case you missed it, here was the guest post I wrote for 5oh Wifey last Friday!


I want to start off by thanking 5oh Wifey for the opportunity to guest post on her blog.  It's the least I can do after she wrote such a wonderful post for me a few weeks ago.  I've never done a guest post before, so bear with me!

I guess I should start off with an introduction.  My name is Mandy and I blog over at my site Mommy Musings.  I can also be found tweeting most of the day on @mommusings.

I've been blogging for about two and a half years and have met some wonderful friends along the way.  I am twenty-something former teacher turned SAHM. 

My two daughters, two-year-old Little M and three month old Baby C are my world.

I married my best friend on a hot summer day in 2005 at the young age of twenty-two. 

My husband Skip is truly my better half.

I wear and have worn lots of different 'hats' in my life: daughter, sister, student, teacher, girlfriend, fiance, wife, mother, friend.  But the hat I am most proud to wear is that of a cop's wife.  Skip was in the police academy when I met him {as well as the Marine Corps Reserve, but that's another post entirely} so I knew what I was getting into from the start. I never thought I would marry a cop, nor did I really know what it would entail.  I have definitely learned a lot over the past few years. 

{one} Being a cop wife can often be confusing. 

 Cop schedules can vary depending on which department he works for.  I have a total love/hate relationship with my husband's work schedule. As far as cop's schedules go, we are very lucky that we know what days he's working for the whole year, for the most part. He has a rotating schedule of four days on, two days off for three weeks and then one week of five days on two days off. One week he works 7 am to 3 pm. The next week he works 3 pm to 11 pm. That only changes when he takes overtime after a shift. Overtime is another eight hours long. Then there are the days he works at the police academy from 8 am to 4 pm. And then sometimes he works a funeral or parade for the honor guard, and those hours depend on what he's doing.  I have learned that I have to be *super* organized to not only remember what the girls and I are doing every day, but when and where Skip is working as well!

{two} Being a cop wife can be frustrating. 

My husband is rarely off on holidays.  I think this year is the first year since I met him that he will be off on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day {and yes I am already looking for a babysitter so we can go out!}  Skip is pretty senior at his department, but he's not quite at the level of being able to take off any holiday he wants.  So for the past six years we wait to see if he is off on a holiday just by chance, and that rarely happens.  So I spend most of my holidays with just the girls, or my family.....while Skip spends them working.

{three} Being a cop wife can be lonely.

Since Skip is working nights at least every other week, I have to spend a lot of time by myself at night.  Sometimes I don't mind it as I use the time to catch up on housework, blogging, having my girlfriends over...but it's still rough.  I miss having him around to eat dinner with and snuggle up on the couch and watch TV.  Thank God for DVR!

{four} Being a cop wife can be exhausting.

Rotating schedules, 8-16 hour shifts, holidays, stress, worry, taking care of the girls by myself, lack of sleep.  These are all things that come with the territory when you are married to a cop.  You push through the hard days and are thankful when the easy days and sleepful nights come around.

{five} Being a cop wife can be scary.

I rarely talk about it, but my husband was assaulted at work a few years ago.  He wasn't hurt too badly and much worse things have happened to other cops, but it was still a very scary day for me, as his wife.  {He didn't seem to phased by the whole thing} No one wants a call from your husband saying he has to go to the hospital.  All those in law enforcement know there is a physical risk at their job every day.....I mean they're not strapping on a bullet proof vest every day just for fun!  But it still shakes you to your core when it happens to your man.

{six} Being a cop wife can be rewarding.

As a former Marine Corps wife who went through a deployment with Skip, I know a thing or two about pride.  As a Marine, Skip selflessly served his country for six years.  And now for the past eight, he has continued to do that every single day as a cop.  Nothing can bring a tear to my eye like seeing my man in uniform, head held high, leaving the house to spend his day 'serving and protecting.'  Being a cop isn't just a job or a career....it's a calling....it's a brotherhood.  It takes a very special kind of man to put his life on the line every day, just to make people feel safer.  And it takes a very proud woman to stand behind him.