Silent Blessings

When I was hired at my first job after college, I felt a sence of pride like I had never felt before nor had the reason to feel, and when I put on that uniform for the first time and was about to step out on the street for my first shift I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. I was so nervous that I remember the person that I was training with asked me what I had to be nervous about and I told him that I just didn’t want to screw up at all on my first day on the job. He said that as long as I kept my head on straight and paid attention, I would do just fine. The rest of the day was a blur from there. It seemed to fly by so fast that before I knew what was happening, I had just finished my first full day as a sworn Police Officer. I could tell that when I talked to my grandpa that night after I had settled in at home, that he was smiling and that he felt proud of me. I even called my birth mother and told her that I had just finished up with my first day. She was also very proud of me because I had finally made my childhood dream become a reality. It was also at that poing that I realised I could do anything as long as I put my mind to it. As I went to bed that night, I did something that I hadn't done in a very long time. I said a prayer of thanks to God for helping me get to that point. I had finally made it, I finally made my dreams come true. Well soon after that, reality began to set in for me as well. Not only had I gotten my first real job, but I also had gotten my first set bills and adult responsibilities. For the longest time the only person that I was responsible for was myself. Now, I was responsible for a town of 1,600 people. I was scared at first, but soon warmed up to the idea of being a person that little kids could look up to and that people would call when they needed help. I had a lot of fun with that job at first. It was nice introducing myself to people and just getting the feel for the job and the town. I thought that it was easy at first and couldn't remember the last time I had that much fun working. I just liked to drive around and talk to people that I met while I was working. It was there that I started to develop relationships with different people that were in town, and as I got to know them better, I even found a few friends in the process, so I thought anyway. I was able to find a family of people that really made a difference in my life. They had suffered so much hurt and pain, but yet had such a positive outlook on life, they were truly a family that others could look up to. They had lost there young daughter in an alcohol related crash. I remember the look on the mothers face when I was at their house and she and her husband were telling me the story about how their daughter had died. Hearing that story had touched my heart in a way that I never before been touched. They were about half way threw their story when I started to cry. The hurt that I felt for them at that moment was way beyond anything that I had ever felt in my life. It was also something that was very new to me. All I could think of then was how my dad must have felt when my older sister died in his arms while he was holding her. She died when she was only 23 hours old. This family had lost their daughter after they had many memories of her. They had seen her grow into a beautiful young woman. They had been threw many birthdays, Christmas's before they had her taken away from them. My father and mother only had a couple of hours with my sister.