LEO's and Marriage

Last Sunday at our First Responder Married's Group one of our leaders read this article talking about what the male LEO (law enforcement officer) needs from his wife and vice versa. I so wish I had the link so you could look at it. The list of what the wife needs from the LEO was pretty decent - stuff like communicating with the wife, acknowledging her contributions to the family, not taking out your job stress on her, etc. The other list, the one concerning what the LEO needs from the wife, was sheer ridiculousness. It included things like waiting up for your LEO to get home from work, meeting him at the door wearing a nice dress, baking him cookies to take to work with him (no I'm not kidding), and other cheesy things. I decided that whoever wrote the blog was either a stay at home mom or a man. So I decided to write a new list.

What an LEO needs from his/her significant other

1. Hold down the fort while the LEO is working - I know for a fact that Brandon couldn't do his job well if I wasn't taking care of things at home. I do homework with Colby, I run the kids around to their activities, I clean (please don't think the house is spotless-it's not!), I cook, I take care of things like bills, grocery shopping and social/activity planning.

2. To not be crazy - LEOs need their significant others to be calm and respectful. They don't need their significant others flying off the handle about stupid things or have crazy expectations about things. They get enough crazy at work and they don't need it at home.

3. To show you care about them and support them and their job - now this can be accomplished in many ways and are not limited to waiting up for them to get home, meeting them at the door wearing a nice dress or baking them cookies. It really just depends on your LEO. For me, I like to make dinner most nights that he has to work. I think it shows a certain amount of caring that I make a hot meal for him before he leaves. When he comes home I always ask him about his night/day and I listen attentively while he tells me what's up. But what works for us, may not work for others. But lets be real, unless you're married with no kids, waiting up for them to get home is craziness. With two kids, I know a better use of my time would be sleeping so that I'm not cranky/crazy while awake. And I love baking cookies and would certainly be okay with making cookies and letting him take some of them to work (I mean I want to eat some too!), but I'm not specifically going to make him cookies like I'm some 1950s wife.

What a significant other needs from his/her LEO

1. Contribute to the household - your significant other is not the only one responsible for the house and family. Do some chores on your day off - anything would be helpful! What's that saying...oh...a man is one clean house away from the night of his dreams ;-)

2. Be thoughtful toward your significant other - buy her flowers, cook him dinner, stop at Cookout on the way home and buy a couple milkshakes. Anything unexpected and delightful will be appreciated.

3. Communicate - if something is bothering you at work or at home, then it needs to be brought up in a loving/respectful way. Trust you significant other to be a good listener and things will be easier.

So here's make take on things and hopefully it's not as cheesy as the other one. I'll post the link if I can find it!