We began going through the process again. Medical tests, psychological tests, training for the Agility test, you name it, we were moving full speed ahead.
Rocco's parents became very concerned. Questions rose: How are you going to handle doing this and the business? What about Stella? Are you sure you want to do this? What about us? Is there any way you can do this in a nice little town nearby? Do you really have to go to the city?
Besides the fact that Roc had always fantasized about joining the NYPD, they didn't seem to understand that he now had a time contingency to deal with: he was 34 years old by the time the entire NYPD Process began. A lot of the towns and municipalities in our county weren't going to give another test until well after his 35th Bday, which was too late.
Rocco explained this to them several times. They didn't want to understand it.
"Oh, come on! You mean to tell me that they won't take you because of your age?! That's discrimination!" Rocco's Dad was about to go fight City Hall.
I became frustrated with their constant worry and inappropriate comments. I barely wanted him to pursue this myself; but I knew that I didn't want to be the one that held him back. I didn't want him swimming in a pool of regret for the rest of his life, only to drown on some day far in the future, just when we felt that the tide had turned.
We moved forward. With each new round, we would plot and plan and wait. We would talk about our schedules, and the way we would handle things. We found out that there were two times for the Academy: a day shift, and a night shift, per se. He wanted days, figured he could get off the train and head right into the business for a little bit each day before going home to rest. We talked, we surmised, we threw around different scenarios, all in an effort to try and control the situation.
Little did we know that we wouldn't have any control over anything.
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Love this. It is so true. DH was just sworn, and we (*I*) thought it was all figured out. Nobody wants 3rd shift, but as a married couple it is PERFECT for us. Everyone else he graduated wants 2nd (which would actually be the worst for us), so it should be EASY to get what he wants.
ReplyDeleteWRONG. He is on 4th shift as of right now (530 pm to 330am) and we will be completely missing each other in the day times.
When he gets off of training, he will probably be on second because his division needs to fill that spot. Another example of ... "We don't have control over any of this!"