16 years ago my wife and I brought home a little bundle of joy. He was born pre-mature, weighed 4 pounds when born and I held him in the palm of my hand. He was our first child and we were thrilled, but scared as first time parents.

We had to wait several days to be sure his weight increased before they let us take him home. I remember the morning after he was born I went to the Disney store at the mall and bought a huge stuffed Winnie the Pooh Bear for him. The clerk said “Wow, someone is really lucky”. and I said “It’s for MY SON”, choking back tears as I said it.

He was released from the hospital and on the drive home I remember saying to my wife-”The next thing we’ll know he’ll be graduating high school”.

Well he isn’t graduating High School this year, but he is turning 16 years old on June 5. My life has been richer every day for knowing him. Not only does he share my name, he shares my heart. As any parent does, I Love all my children, but your first has a special place in my heart, like my daughter has a special place and my youngest has a special place.

I marvel at the man he is becoming. I am in awe at the intelligence he displays, I was left in the dust in 6th grade as far as math goes and he continues to astound me daily with how smart he is. He came to me and told me he was taking two maths in 11th grade so he could advance to the level he needed to be in 12th grade, my jaw dropped. I didn’t want to take even one math class. HE knows where he wants to be and what he wants to do. NASA is clearly in his sights, and I believe nothing will stop him from achieving that goal.

I’m an old sentimental fool and cry at the smallest things, I get teary eyed when I see the videos of him as a little boy hearing a plane flying over head and on the video saying with so much excitement “A Plane Daddy, there’s a plane”. I pray he lives his life and remembers those moments of pure excitement.

The day he was born the world became a richer place, I know because of him, it will continue to be.

We call him EJ but today I will call him by his name…I Love You Eric…Happy Birthday!

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Just a quick observation…while cooking dinner I slightly burned the bread I was baking, ok it caught fire and was a total loss, and smoke spilled from the oven. The fancy pants smoke detector began to blare and then a very calm female voice began to say…Fire, Fire, Fire….over and over. Very calm and nonchalantly warning us that the house was on fire. For me it was much too calm…I want a smoke detector that screams at me….”Oh Lordy, Oh Jesus, The House is burning, get the F out…oh my God we’re all gonna die if you don’t get the F out of here!!!” How about an alarm that yells that-then I’m sure to get out. MAybe it can even faint half way through screaming, someone would have to pick it up, fan it a bit and it would carry on carrying on-”Oh Jesus, Oh Lord, MY House , NO you didn’t just burn the bread, Uh Uh..Oh Lord, Jesus”!!! Now that would be my kind of smoke alarm.

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The story I’m about to share with you is ABSOLUTELY true, I’m not even changing the names to protect the innocent, while totally unbelievable I swear it is true.

First let me say this is a story of complete luck, it’s almost like a lottery story only I was 15 and couldn’t play the lottery. I would gladly trade this bit of dumb luck for the lottery today but I fear this used up my “PLEASE GOD” moment-total waste in hindsight but in the moment I think you’ll understand.

If you’ve read my blog you know all about the summer between 9th and 10th grade…if you haven’t, well you’ll  have to go back and read now won’t you?

I had recently got contact lenses. Back in the 80s contacts were not cheap and they were not disposable. They were expensive and I had been warned countless times to “BE CAREFUL” and I had “BETTER NOT LOSE THEM”. Had I lost my contacts I would have faced the wrath of my father, something that no one in their right mind would ever want to do. My Dad tended to over react sometimes, ok all the time, (ask me sometime about the Moped incident) but truly, lose my contacts I was a dead man.  

So it’s summer and I’m hanging with my girlfriend and some other people. We all decide it is hot enough to go to the park and go swimming. ME being the diligent, smart kid I was, get my contact lens case because when I get to the park and the stream I’m going to take my lenses out because back in the 80s according to the doctors if you swam with your contact lenses in you’d die instantly.

We arrive, I remove my contact lenses and swim with no issues…weeeeeee !!!! Oh boy we are having some fun. What? Time to go? Oh Ok, let me pop my contact lenses back in so I can see. Right lense pops in NO PROBLEM….just as I’m lifting the left lens to my eye…POOF a little tiny gust of wind, mind you the ONLY gust of wind on a completely hot sunny humid day in July. The F-You wind comes by and blows the contact lens off my finger into oblivion-or so I thought.

“Gosh Golly”! I yell, ok I made that up, I yelled some pretty foul things. My lens blew off my finger and straight into the stream. Yes the stream that is MOVING at a pretty good clip into the Metedaconk River which I’m sure in turn leads directly to the Atlantic Ocean.  Panic strikes me, I bolt off the bridge I am standing on and RUN down stream and enter the waist deep water. I made every deal with God I could think off, which is why I am convinced I will never win the lottery. I used up all my “Please God” moments with this one. I know, you’re saying “NO WAY”, I’m saying “YES”-I started to scoop up bubbles as they passed me, what else was I going to do. I scooped up countless bubbles, when I was just about to give up, when I scooped up one last set of bubbles and there LOW AND BEHOLD was my contact lens, right there in my hand. The lens landed upright and appeared like a bubble on the water-what are the odds of that?

I NEVER told my father that story, even into my 40s before he passed away I never shared that story with him, I was afraid he’d still kick my ass LOL…silly what we think of over a cold Sam Adams. I raise my glass to stupid luck and the fact that I know I will never ever win the lottery.

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My goal with this blog was to keep it fairly lighthearted, however, I’ve been moved today to write some thoughts that aren’t so lighthearted and they are to complain about the NJ Governor and the legislator that just screwed every hard working Police Officer and Fireman in NJ.

My father was a Police Officer, in fact was Chief of Police in Manalapan Township, while I was in the Army he encouraged me to get out and seek employment as a Police Officer because , as he put it, “the benefits more than make up for the lousy pay, shitty hours and bullshit that you put up with”. The benefits include 65% pension when you retire after 25 years and full medical coverage. You trade some comforts of today for peace of mind tomorrow. 

So that is exactly what I did, I became a Police Officer after 6 years of serving my Country I decided to serve the fine people of NJ. I’ve heard people refer to us as Ex-heroes, referring to the fact that they envisioned us as heroes around 9-11 but no longer view us as such and DEMAND that we give up our benefits that we worked so hard to get and fairly negotiated a contract with the township we work for. So for those that want to refer to me as an Ex-Hero I say this.

 Those “Ex-Heroes” that you refer to are doing the same job they did before 9-11 and the same job they continue to do today. Those ” Ex -Heroes” are doing more today than they did before 9-11. Not only are they Law Enforcers but they are the first line of defense in Homeland Security. Those same ” Ex -Heroes” were the ones jumping in their cars and driving to NY immediately after 9-11 not running away from the city. Those ” Ex -Heroes” are the ones that remained in NY for days on end, away from their families to assist other families in one of the most dire times of this Country. Yes, ” Ex -Heroes” from every police department went to NY to assist, YES, ” Ex -Heroes” from every police department dealt with the families of those that died in the 9-11 tragedies. And every single one of those “Ex -Heroes” would and will do it again in a moment’s notice. Those ‘ Ex -Heroes” are the ones being shot at and killed on the city streets of Philadelphia, those ” Ex -Heroes” are the ones on the street here in our communities catching the “real criminals” at 3 am while you are sound asleep. In their most desperate hour the first people someone calls and sees are those ” Ex -Heroes”. Unfortunately at times the ” Ex -Heroes” are the last people they will ever see, speak to, or the last people to ever hold their hands and comfort them as they pass. Sometimes, we are the last hands a child holds after an accident before his parents arrive. Those ” Ex -Heroes” are busy policing up your children who are out drinking underage, smoking pot, stealing, beating people up or damaging property. We’re the same ” Ex -Heroes” that you blame when your kids are caught. Those ” Ex -Heroes” are the ones who respond to the fatal accidents, and deal with the tragedy head on. You read about in the paper, they see it, touch it, live it daily and think maybe if I can slow people down or stop them from running a red light I can stop someone else from getting killed. So those ” Ex -Heroes” write tickets, NOT because they are mandated, BUT because it is their JOB and it is a job they take seriously. They hope and pray that the ticket they wrote this morning for a red light violation might save someone’s life tonight on the way home from work. Those ” Ex -Heroes” don’t demand special treatment, they chose their line of work, but they are out there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, away from their families on holidays and weekends, picnics and parties, soccer games and beach trips. They often tuck their children in bed at night over the phone and catch a quick kiss from their wife or husband as they run out the door for work. Those ” Ex -Heroes” will come to your aid no matter what you call them or how you treat them and will take a bullet for a perfect stranger. Those ” Ex -Heroes” are my brothers and sisters and I for one am PROUD to be an ” Ex -Hero”.

The STATE stole from US…the Police and Firefighter have contributed 8.5 % of their pay into the pension. The highest ANYWHERE in the Country. The State Government “borrowed” billions of dollars from OUR pension fund to lower property taxes and to provide the citizens of NJ with Property Tax Rebate checks, they have not paid that money back. They allowed the Municipalities to defer the required contributions to our pensions for 12 years. Now the time has come to pay up and the Municipalities cry they can’t afford it and BLAME US-the NJ citizens listen to this CRAP and believe that it is our fault property taxes have gone up. I’m a tax payer also, my taxes have gone up EVERY year since I moved into my house 16 years ago, for 12 of those years NO CONTRIBUTIONS were made into the pension fund by the municipalities and yet my taxes have gone up-HOW IS THAT CAUSED BY OUR PENSION? The townships and the State are using us as their scapegoat. We are easy to blame and the gullible citizens of NJ bought into it. Now that these reforms have passed and I’m required to kick in more to my health care coverage I want to see my taxes go down! Will they? Absolutely NOT because it was never our fault to begin with.

I hope and I pray our unions (Police and Fire) get some balls and go hard after the State of NJ and the Municipalities and force them to make their required BILLIONS of dollars worth of owed contributions to our pension fund. Let me retire in peace in 3 years…NJ don’t you worry because you can BE SURE I will move out of this State the second I retire. Keep lowering the benefits and see what kind of ilk you attract to the jobs that matter most, the job of protecting you and your family. Good Luck NJ YOU ARE GOING TO NEED IT!

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NO I’m not actually bored but this is something I constantly see my kids typing in their Facebook status line…OMG I am going to sound like my parents here…BORED? In my day we had basic cable and no Internet, THE HORROR! Even we were spoiled then at least we had HBO.

Conversation I recently had with my 12 Year Old Daughter…

Her (lying on couch flipping through on demand movies) Of course she didn’t say anything because God forbid she initiate a conversation with me.

Me: Hey what’s up?

Her: (Grunt)

Me: HELLO-what’s up?

Her: I’m bored! There is nothing on TV.

Me: WHAT? We have every pay channel known to man, we have at LEAST 500 channels (including HD) and you can’t find ANYTHING to watch?

Her: NO TV stinks.

Me: Go clean your room.

Seriously, now I know what my Dad meant when he said all those things that I thought were so stupid back in the day, because I must have sounded as pathetic. Although let’s be honest with each other, while we did have “basic” cable, I don’t remember spending too much time in front of the TV-I remember being outside actually interacting with the real world. Not growing a farm on Farmville and decking out my pad in Yoville.

I furnished my room with plastic milk crates…I know…I know… but some how a 14 year old kid in 1978 thought having a desk and shelves built out of milk crates was cool…but at least I was doing it in real life.

My oldest son spends a lot of time playing Call of Duty…killing imaginary friends online. I guess it’s the same thing we were doing back in the day. Using sticks to play war, if you were shot you had to count to 10 before you could get back up. But we were OUTSIDE my Sniper rifle was the long straight stick I found in the woods, not some weapon I found lying next to the dead avatar of some kid in the Baltics, who I’m sure in his language has told his parents an equal amount of time of how bored he is.

The status of one of my children was recently changed to “sooooooooo bbbbbbbooooooorrrrrrreeeeeeeddddddd” this posting was exactly 10 minutes after he had posted “I’m bored” For craps sake, we have Playstation, Xbox and Wii in my house, computers, as mentioned before cable TV, countless board games (which they say are BORED games), every toy they’ve asked for a Christmas, iPods, Blu Ray, Netflix…my God it is a smorgasbord of entertainment in my house. I’m almost ashamed to admit I have all this stuff…Look I like the modern comforts to, but trust me I am NEVER bored in my house.

Bored and unable to talk is how these kids will remember their childhood? Why do I mention that? My daughter was sitting right next to her cousin and instead of talking to each other they texted each other, What? No one talks any more.

I try to be a cool Dad, but man oh man I have trouble getting this generation…forget hoping I die before I get old, I just want to figure out my kids before I go senile.

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The ringing in of a new year brings with it the beginning of a new decade. It gives us pause to reflect on the first decade of this millennium. I wonder what the first decade of the next millennium might be like, 1,000 years from now when some blogger (will they even be called that then) might reflect on what changes have transpired since the calendar turned to the year 3,000. Before I can ponder that I should reflect on the past 10 years and the profound changes we have been through.

10 years ago we truly were partying like it was 1999. A song that had been written in the early 80s became the anthem of a night as everyone worried about Y2K and if the world would end, or at the very least our computers and entire infrastructure might shut down because of someone forgetting to program the computers to change from 19 to 20 when the millennium changed.

I was entering my 11th year as a civilian police officer my 17th year in Law Enforcement. I was a detective then, as I am today. Little did I, or anyone know, that as the clock stuck midnight and we celebrated the New Year, the new Millennium and the fact that the world had not exploded, exactly 1 year, 9 months, 11 days, 8 hours and 46 minutes later we’d be staring at our televisions and disbelief, wondering if the world was indeed coming to an end as the first plane struck the World Trade Center.

That single event has defined the past decade, it led to a war that we are still fighting today. On a personal level it affected my life in ways my writing can never capture. Not only was I there on site assisting in the recovery, experiencing the devastation first hand, the continuous selfless acts I witnessed and the shear desperation and hopelessness witnessed as families searched in vain for loved ones, I was intimately involved with the families in our town that lost loved ones in the disaster. I was the Detective assigned all 9-11 cases, 4 in total from our town perished, and I dealt with the families and the coroner’s office. I saw police officers and other emergency workers devastated day in and day out by the trauma they were seeing on site, yet, everyday they returned to assist in finding their fallen partners, because at the end of the shift, EVERYONE goes home!

On a more personal level I lost two family members, my Sister In Law Kathy lost her battle with Breast Cancer and was taken from our lives when she was the age I am now. I miss Kathy immensely, and I remember New Years Eve 1999 as her and her family came to the party dressed as Y2K agents, all in black and the laughs we had.

My father also passed away during the decade, 2007 to be exact. My father and I had not spoken in sometime and his death left me feeling very guilty for not making amends before his death. His passing was sudden and unexpected; the pain I feel is still there today. I regret so many things. You can read more about this if interested in my “Other Writings” page and an entry called ‘A Conversation with My Father”. RIP Dad and Kathy…you are both missed very much. Uncle Dave, Uncle Jerry, Uncle Jackie, my cousin Jeffrey, you’re all missed.

I am blessed to have a loving family, a job and a home. My children are becoming more than I would have imagined and becoming independent. This saddens me a little. Gone are the days when I could do no wrong. At the beginning of the decade I was a hero by the end I was a Dork and I embarrassed them. I know it happens to every parent and they will all come back around-but it is NEVER the same as when Santa and the Easter Bunny were real and making napkins and quarters disappear and pulling lollipops and gum out of my nose made them look at me like I was the most wondrous man alive. I miss that I really do.

The next decade has a lot in store for me. I will be retiring; I will be sending three kids off to college, perhaps attending a wedding or two. I’m sure the losses will come as they always do in ones life and I’ll age. Gracefully I hope, but I know in reality, I’ll be kicking and screaming the entire time.

Merry Christmas to you and have a very healthy and wonderful New Year and New Decade.

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No doubt many of you have seen this before, perhaps some of you have never seen it. All I know is that I am in AWE each and every time I look at this picture and hear or read the words of Carl Sagan.

I routinely check NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website on the Voyager Mission. I’m amazed that 2 spaceships we launched in the mid 70s are still transmitting data and that we can still receive it. These spacecraft are now over 10 BILLION miles from Earth heading fast into the unknown. It is estimated that we will be able to receive info from these two Spacecraft until the year 2020, imagine the distance these two craft will have travelled, imagine what they’ve seen.

As Voyager 1 left our Solar System, somewhere from where the once planet Pluto orbited the sun, Carl Sagan convinced NASA to turn the camera back towards us and take a snap shot of Earth from 4 Billion miles away. The Sun is only 93 million miles from Earth, comprehending 4 Billion miles is difficult, and when we look at this photograph, of the Pale Blue Dot “suspended” in a sunbeam we get a feeling of the awesomeness of the universe. Regardless of whether or not you believe in God, there is some feeling of a higher power or science and it’s randomness…whichever you feel is more appropriate it is none the less humbling to know we are it The Pale Blue Dot, and until proven otherwise there is NOTHING else out there.

Carl Sagan summed it up most elegantly in a speech I think everyone should listen to.

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Just received my professional Voice Over Demo, this is what I’ll be using to market myself to whoever wants to hire me. Give it a listen and let me know what you think…CLICK HERE FOR VOICE SITE

Sorry haven’t been around in a bit, I’m back!

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Veterans Day means a day off for so many in the Country but for thousands of others it means so much more.

The brave men and women serving this Country today in Harms Way are a reminder of the price of freedom. Today is not Memorial Day, a day when we honor those that gave the last great act of devotion so that our Country might remain free., although we remember them on this day and honor their sacrifice, today is a day to say Thank You to those that have served this Country in time of war and peace.

Each day more and more of those Veterans of World War 2 pass on, and the history and lessons of the time pass with them. Those brave men that stormed the beach in Normandy, that raised the flag on Iwo Jima, that suffered the coldness and the carnage of the Ardennes Forrest during the Battle of the Bulge. We should never forget what those men did, PLEASE be sure to thank them today so that they now our generation doesn’t forget what they did for us.

My father was a casualty of the Vietnam War, he wasn’t killed or injured in Vietnam, but I believe my father was lost in Vietnam, he didn’t come back the same man that left. That man never returned and what he went through and did in Vietnam I believe effected him for the remainder of his life. I didn’t understand while he was living, I didn’t grasp it all even after serving 6 years in the Military myself. I never said thank you to my father until his Eulogy at his funeral, when I spoke to him through choked back tears I wanted to be sure that I thanked him publicly for his sacrifice, his dedication, and his service to our Country, that needed him and he went. He was a career soldier and retired from the Military some 4 years after returning from Vietnam, but I don’t think he really ever did return, I was and am still proud to have known the man.

I say Thank you today to all those serving today at home and in far away Countries, in battle and in support positions. Thank you to my nieces husband Mike, who is an Army Doctor and right now stationed in Afghanistan. Mike we pray for you everyday and are very proud of the job you are doing.

I am blessed to know I live in a Country where men and women will raise their hand, voluntarily, and defend me and my family from terrorist and those that would see our way of life vanish from this earth.

“The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men.” -Samuel Adams”

I say Thank you to my brother who served in the Army with me, we were actually stationed near each other at one time. He in Maryland and me in Virginia. Thanks to my family for your support while we served.

I swore an oath years ago as I entered the Army an oath that I cherish and reaffirm today;

I, Eric Potts, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

I am so very proud to be an American, and proud to have served my Country. I want to say Thank You to everyone that has raised their hand whether through volunteering or draft, war or peace. My children are free today because of your service, you could not have given me a better gift. Thank You and God Bless You!

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