Annual Police Memorial Service

Today we attended the North Slope Borough Police Department Annual Police Memorial Service. I was touched by the sense of duty to God, family, city, borough, state and country. The service was short and simple, and it was moving to see all the officers and their families gathered to honor those who have lost their lives or family members to the hazards of the job.

It made me realize just how dangerous it is for my hubby to be out there every day with people who are having their worst day. Many of the people he deals with are just irresponsible and inebriated, which makes them stupid and unpredictable, but not necessarily bad. However, there are a few people that have long records and have served hard time as convicted felons. Those are the ones that make me think twice about the last words I say when see him off to work.

I have learned that the families of first responders do experience a greater strain and stress from the ugly side of society. Ben does a pretty good job of blowing off most of the frustration before he gets home, but there are still cases and days that get dragged up when he is least expecting and it causes an uneasy tension. I just wish I knew how to handle it a little better.

The transition to being an officer’s wife was difficult, but not quite as difficult as the transition to living in the Alaska Bush. I think that I have found a way to cope a little better now that the temperatures are usually at or above 0. There is still snow out, and we just bought 2 used snow mobiles to help ease the tension of cabin fever and job stress.

I have been taking the snowmobile across the lagoon to Piuraagvik (translates to “place to play” but it is really a run down basketball court with 2 locker-rooms and a few broken pieces of workout equipment). It only costs $1 to stay as long as I would like, and it meets my needs for a Stair Master and Treadmill. We also take them out cruisin on the ocean… Yup, it is still frozen over. We got nearly a foot of new snow the last few days, but you can’t really tell because it is so dry and fluffy and just blows around.

Anyway, I digress. The facts that we are playing as hard as we are working and that we are working toward goals that meet our needs, are making the transitions a little more bearable. I am happy to have a sense of family through the police department, and feel comfort in the fact that people are looking out for us. The memorial service brought all of that to the front of my mind and made me realize that as tough as this place is, the people are tougher and they take care of each other.

It was good for me to experience this little bite of reality on the tundra, and I think it helped me warm up to the fact that we are going to be up here for a while. But I still hope that it is not too long.