The Fraternity still exists. It's not what it once was: a bunch of white guys out all night, boozing it up and running the show. In fact, my husband's NYPD graduating class looked like a UN General Assembly Meeting. There were people there, men and women of every imaginable background, being sworn in with pride in their eyes and families in the stands.
I think that our cops sometimes forget the families in the stands.
My husband just sauntered in. It's 5:00 in the morning, EST. He got off work at midnight, but it was some Sergeant's Birthday. So they all had to go out for drinks. And that's where the Fraternity is still alive and kicking.
If I so much as ask my husband to stay up an extra half-hour and watch a late-night comedy show with me I get the instant tirade: I need sleep, I can't, you don't understand, etc.
But if an arbitrary superior calls in his chips and says hey, "It's my Birthday," well then: all bets are off. Sleep? Not necessary. A wife that is unable to get any real rest until she knows her cop is safe at home? Secondary.
All because of The Fraternity.
Funny...when I was in college, I refused to date a guy that was in a fraternity...I thought it was a low-brow way of buying friends. I had no respect for a guy that walked around in a piece of shit costume for an entire week just to make it "in." A total turn-off for me, and if I had to do it all over again, I probably would still shy away from the guy who branded little Greek symbols on his ass.
But this is different...A Cop Wife is expected to understand...and needless to say, sometimes I just don't get it. Like tonight.
Or this morning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I totally relate to this. My husband will be impossible to wake even after he's had enough sleep (apparently they are never caught up though. . . ) but the second he gets a phone call that's not even an emergency or anything from "one of the guys" he's super perky and up and at it. Coming home a million hours after a shift ends because of an incident is entirely different than coming home because you were out partying with the guys. For me it rocks my world because I'm on a schedule with the kids and stuff and I depend on him to be around in when I've scheduled it. But then again, I have to function as though he doesn't exist and be independent because being marriend to a cop is unpredictable and undependable. . . So many obnoxious things about it and good things. But you already know that.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to meet you! I will post your blog soon so others will visit. Also, "the sun is always blue" on my pw blogroll is a girlfriend of a NYPD cop.