Zero Hour

The countdown clock that I’ve watched to mark this moment has only hours left until it reads zero. When it reaches zero no confetti will drop, no band will play and no balloons will be released. It will simply mark the retirement of a police officer. My replacement is already hired; in fact I did the background check on him, a young kid, eager to start a career as a police officer and to change the world. I’ll turn in my badge and gun, say good bye to my co-workers and walk out the door for the last time as a Police Officer.  The department will not miss a beat, the hallways may get quieter with me gone but it won’t miss a beat. Crime will not stop, investigations will need to get done, and people will call for help. It will all move forward without me. Someday the rookie hired to replace me will start counting down the days until he retires.

Can I sum up a career in several pages of type, no; there are tons of things I could never convey. Moments that are trapped that I don’t even remember yet. Faces I see, voices I hear, moments I relive. I will miss it. I will always be a cop, no matter what else I do in life I will ALWAYS be part of the brotherhood. I loved it so, even though at times it exasperated me.

I can, however with a quote from Robert Frost, sum up the police profession without me in it as well as my life without being a police officer in three words.

It Goes On.

Thanks for reading.

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