Papa the Po-po

For some reason my brothers think they are gangstas. Well, actually they have finally grown up some so now only one of my three brothers still thinks he is a gangster, the other two have come to terms with the fact that they are just regular korean-canadian guys. Anyhoo, they have lots of different words for the police, as all gangsters do. There's 'five- oh', which I totally do not understand, a bunch of others that I am drawing blanks on, but my favorite is 'Po-po'. Why? Cause it sounds more like something that Lily would say than a gangster would. So this post today is devoted to my husband because I FINALLY went on a ride-along with him last week!

Chris has been a cop for about two years now. I have not been able to go on a ride-along with him because I have literally been pregnant the whole time he has been a cop. I almost went with him last year, but I thought I was pregnant. Chris urged me to not take a pregnancy test until I went with him on a ride-along later that week, but like anyone could wait that long to find out if they were pregnant or not. Needless to say, I took one, it was positive, didn't go on the ride-along with Chris, had a baby, etc. etc.

Chris' brother Robert goes on a ride-along with Chris every six months, cause that's how long you have to wait till you are allowed to go on another one. Our good friend Mike has also gone with Chris on one. As Mike aptly put it- 'Chris has a sixth sense for crime.' I know Chris is a great cop, so I was very excited as I drove over to the station to meet him on Friday morning. Just to preface- Mike and Robert went on ride-alongs with Chris when he was working the exciting night shift. He is now on days, which is great for our family, but not so great for excitement filled ride-alongs.


I left all three kids with Jeehon (bless her heart. Where would I be without her?) and I was grinning from ear to ear while I drove to Scottsdale. I had just been with all three kids so much that I really needed a break from them. That sounds terrible I know, but sometimes you just need an opportunity to miss your kids so that you appreciate them more when you see them again. I also needed a break from packing and being in our house full of boxes and crap strewn about. I also just needed to spend some one on one time with my hubby.

So I realized what a seriously terrible person I am because the day was so boring at first and I just wanted something to happen. We went to an accident scene where there was a minor fender bender. Boring! I can't handle the sight of blood or anything, but I wanted something more than a fender bender, which meant I wanted ill to befall someone else for my own personal enjoyment. Ugh. I disgust myself sometimes. I encourage others to go on ride-alongs with any cop friends you may have, lots of time for introspection if they work the day shift. Even more so if it's your husband working the day shift and he doesn't want anything bad to happen to you.

We stopped for lunch at Subway. First meal alone together in awhile. Then we drove down this one tiny street that had the biggest, most amazing looking houses I have ever seen. I took a five minute nap while Chris continued to drive around, avoiding danger. He was about to take me back to the station so that I could get back home to the kids when all of a sudden- action! We were right near a motel where there were calls saying that a guy was threatening a woman with a knife. Sweet!

So we went to the call and it was awesome. Chris went over to the guy who was apparently threatening his girlfriend, telling her he was going to cut her. There were already about five other cops on the scene. I stood off to the side with another officer who was questioning this other girl who said she had no idea what was going on. She seemed innocent enough to me, but that's cause I do not have a sixth sense for crime. The officer who was talking to her asked her a bunch of questions and kept asking her if she was a prostitute. Yikes man! That's offensive. Except it didn't seem to offend her. Probably cause she was a prostitute. Dang.

So that was my ride-along experience. It was so great to hang out with Chris for a day and see what he does, even though he tried so hard to protect me from it. I commend all those who work hard to protect our streets, cause they seriously deal with a different breed of people than you and I do at our jobs.