Blog Entry: Being Family of Law Enforcement

Being Family of Law Enforcement The picture is of my best friend and I. He currently works with the local ambulence service, responding to medical calls and such. He plans to become an EMT after he graduates. Im the one on the right. Im the step daughter of a Sheriffs Deputy for the county I live in. A family friend of mine is a state prison guard, his wife is highway patrol.

Being family of law enforcement has its ups and downs. The up side is that you feel safe. You're under slightly more protection than a normal person. The down side is the constant worry when they're on duty. Whether its my stepdad, best friend, or family friend. When they're on duty, they're constantly on my mind. I worry about the fact that my best friend sometimes has to drive really crazy when he responds to calls. He's an extremely safe driver. But one wrong move could send him rolling. I have very vivid nightmares about it. Same goes for my stepdad.

The constant worry messes with my anxiety all the time. I've had panic attacks from it before. Sometimes they happen when I'm alone or at night before I go to sleep.

But its one of those things that I just deal with. I deal with the worry, i deal with the panic attacks because that is what they do and they love it. I can not make them, nor will I ever even dare to try to make them stop just because I worry. Everyone in their families worry.

Even in all the worry though.. I could not be more proud of them. They have strength and bravery and passion for their job. There are days I want to cry because I am just that proud of them. Not a lot of people can get out there and handle some of the situations they do. Especially when it comes to my best friend. He's so young for being able to do what he does. But he handles every call as if he were an adult handling it... He handles it with strength.

There are days when being the family of law enforcement is the hardest thing in the world. Not to mention my moms side of the family is also a military family. But we love all of them more than you all can imagine. And we are definitely thankful every day to have them in our lives.

To all the men and women in this world that wear a uniform, whether its Police, EMS, Nurse, Military, whatever. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for what you do. This world would be very different without you, there would be a lot less people in this world without you.
Stay safe in what ever you do. And God bless you.