Our plan when we got married 6 mths prior to that was for him to go into the Border Patrol and I was going to follow and be a happy Border Patrol Wife. He made it through 99% of the Border Patrol testing and we all figured he would go off to the BP boot camp January following his December graduation. We were in Midland for Thanksgiving and so we signed on an apartment lease so I would have somewhere to live while he went away for boot camp. We thought this was the best idea, he was to young to get into the FBI, he wouldn't dream of being a city cop so the Border Patrol was a pretty good stepping stone into a good law enforcment career.
After signing the lease and celebrating Thanksgiving with the family we drove back to Richardson (where we were living while he finished school). As soon as we got to the apartment we checked the mail and there was a letter from Homeland Security! As soon as I saw the envelope I got excited thinking this is it, this is his acceptance letter. I thought as soon as we opened this letter our life would be changed.
Our life was changed when we opened the letter, but not in the way we had hoped for. The letter was telling him that he needed to see a doctor about his eye sight and his asthma. He did the medical test 6 months prior to this letter, how could they just now be telling us that he needed to get these things checked on? They said he did not meet their standards. He had the option to fight it, but we chose not to. We both knew our hearts were not really into the Border Patrol. We cried, we were upset. I do not think we were moarning our dream of going into the Border Patrol, we were crying because he was about to graduate college and had no plans. I have a bachelors degree also but had no plans because my plans were waiting on his BP plans. What were we going to do?
We knew that we would move back to Midland because that is where we signed the apartment lease. His graduation came and left, we packed up the same day as he graduated and moved back to Midland. I continuted to work from home for the food delivery company and he started delivering food for us. Everday we talked about what we were going to do, we could not live like that for long. I urged him to apply for the MPD, but he was sure that he couldn't pass the physical test. He needed to get into shape and lose some weight first, but according to me we didn't have time to wait for him to lose weight. I encouraged him to apply and try the test. We all knew he could do it, but he wasn't so sure.
In January 2009 he applied and took the written and physical entrance exam and passed both! We then started the law enforcement hiring process AGAIN! If anyone doesn't know...the hiring process is a pain! We had already done it for the Border Patrol but we started it again, hoping this time the outcome would be good. After the entrance exams he had an interview, a lie detector test, a psycological exam, a medical exam, a background check and of course drug tests. Each time he passed portion we siged with relief. In April 2009 (4 months after the intial exams) he got hired. He started working April 20, 2009. The police academy was not scheduled to start until August so until then they had him working either at the police station or at their range. We were just happy he had a job! He was still depressed during that time until Academy because he was very nervous about the academy. 200+ people applied for the job and only 12 got hired. Usually 50% of the ones who start the academy will finish. It's a tough school.
Jump over to my life...I was sick of working at the company I was working for. It was not for me! I was only doing it to pay the bills. In March I started seriously looking for something that I could do. I was tired of working "jobs" I was ready for a career, but with my degree there is really not much that you can do with it. I had heard that you if you had a 4 year degree you could take a class over the summer and get a teaching internship and then after the year be a fully certified teacher. Most of my family told me I would not make it in the teaching world, but the thought would not leave my head. I decided to put the thought on hold and went to the career fair hoping that something would pop up there.
I walked into the career fair and the first booth was Region 18 (the education service center). They asked if I had ever considered teaching. Right then I knew that I was being called. I told myself that I could teach for a whole school year and if I hated it I would never have to do it again and if I loved it then I would have a career.
I started the application process for the teaching process, I got accepted and began the classes in May. I also quit my job at that time so I could focus on the classes. We went all summer with me doing the classes, and looking for a teaching job and him just working odd jobs around the station until the academy started.
I was begining to get discouraged because I could not find a job, everyone in my class was getting jobs but I wasn't. I jokingly kept saying that on August 3rd I would get an offer because August 3rd was when his academy was starting and the previous year on that date is when we moved to Richardson. In my mind August 3rd was a life changing date. Days came and went. August came and we celebrated our 1st anniversary and the next day he started the academy and sure enough I got a call for an interview. It was for a postion I had been saying I would not take! All along I said I would not teach little kids and really did not want to teach mainstream kids, I wanted to teach children in special education. I went to the interview and the principal showed me around the school, she said she needed to fill the postion asap. I knew that she was going to offer me the job. I guess I was right about August 3rd all along. I accepted the job and immediatly began researching little kids. I had no idea about little kids! I tell everyone that I don't like little kids...and now Im going to be spending my days with them!!!
His first day of academy went well. He was stressed and was up all night studying for a test they had the next day. We knew it would be 18 weeks of hell, but we had prepared ourselves for it. I knew I was taking on alot being a first year teacher and trying to support him through academy the best I could, but I knew I could do it.
On December 4th he graduated from the Permian Basin Law Enforcment Academy with the academic award! He graduated with an almost 99% average!
After December 4th he went to an MPD orientation and then on December 15th he was sworn in with the PD!
Since he has been sworn in he has been in the FTO program which means he has a training officer with him guiding him along the way. He is working on the streets, he just has a very trained partner. This is where we are at now. Some days I can not believe this is our life, we have been blessed beyond belief in the last year. We both have jobs we love! So our life now is 4 year olds, criminals and of course our kitties!
No comments:
Post a Comment