Small Town Cop

My little family made the move from Big Suburbia to Small Town just under three years ago now. And a lot of people think we are nuts. We are constantly being asked why we'd do something so... so... so crazy. I mean, don't we know people in small towns all across the country are trying to get out and move to a Big Suburbia themselves? Don't we watch those teenage-angst TV shows where the kids are always lamenting about being stuck in one-horse towns? Well, yes. But we lived the other side of the coin, so we can see the beauty of living in Small Town.

What brought us here was an opportunity for DH to become Small Town Cop. And, for the most part, being Small Town Cop consists of long, uneventful hours of patrolling for the occasional speeder... or DH's favorite: DUIs. He is able to come home for a dinner break pretty much every night. He can go to DD's school functions even when he is on duty. There are a lot of small perks that make us very fortunate that he is Small Town Cop.

And then a night like last night comes along and makes me wonder if being the wife of a Small Town Cop really is all that and a bag of chips after all. What started out looking like a routine traffic stop for DH quickly escalated into a high-speed chase. And then the guy jumped out the vehicle and ran. It was surreal... like something you'd see on an episode of 'COPS'. And, if at first my thoughts were 'WOOOOHOOOO, this is so cool!' they quickly turned into something more along the lines of fear... and a deep paranoia that maybe something might happen to DH. Something bad. Maybe whatever the guy was trying to hide by running would be enough for him to do something rash. Not that running from the police isn't rash, but I mean something really dangerous... like whipping out a gun. So, I laid awake last night listening for more sirens. Or for the phone to ring. Or, worse... the doorbell.

I must have finally fallen asleep, though, because I didn't hear DH come home at some point during the night. And as I laid awake in bed this morning listening to DH softly snore, I finally relaxed. My Small Town Cop made it home again, safe and sound.