Do any of you know the secret to balancing this job and a good homelife?
It’s not easy maintaining a healthy relationship in this line of work.
I was married for seven years, dating her for several before that. My divorce was finalised only a few weeks ago, although I suppose we’d been separated in all but the legal terms for two years, not counting the gapping void that grew between us even while we were under the same roof.
All her friends were married to cops; it’s not like she didn’t know what she was letting herself in for. And you try, you really do, to make it work, to remember all the important dates and details, but when you’re busy with all the other important dates and details that your work throws at you, you’re bound to slip. Then, it’s a downhill slide. One day, you’re called away in the middle of dinner, the next you realise that it’s been weeks since you even shared a meal at the same table.
In fact, the only meals you share with anyone now are from a takeout container, whilst on a stakeout with your partner.
What’s the alternative? Find someone who knows just how demanding the job can be? Forming a relationship with your partner is not such a good idea; there are a million good reasons why not, but the one that sticks in my mind is that when it falls through, for whatever reason, you’ll lose a damn good partner when she transfers the hell out of Dodge.
It doesn’t leave many more options; workplace relationships, even those that aren’t as close as your partner, are still a potential minefield of overwrought emotions at the wrong moment. Meeting people outside of the workplace becomes harder the older you get.
But at the end of the day, you can be sure of one thing: there will always be the company of that bottle of Scotch to last you well into the dark, lonely night.
I was married for seven years, dating her for several before that. My divorce was finalised only a few weeks ago, although I suppose we’d been separated in all but the legal terms for two years, not counting the gapping void that grew between us even while we were under the same roof.
All her friends were married to cops; it’s not like she didn’t know what she was letting herself in for. And you try, you really do, to make it work, to remember all the important dates and details, but when you’re busy with all the other important dates and details that your work throws at you, you’re bound to slip. Then, it’s a downhill slide. One day, you’re called away in the middle of dinner, the next you realise that it’s been weeks since you even shared a meal at the same table.
In fact, the only meals you share with anyone now are from a takeout container, whilst on a stakeout with your partner.
What’s the alternative? Find someone who knows just how demanding the job can be? Forming a relationship with your partner is not such a good idea; there are a million good reasons why not, but the one that sticks in my mind is that when it falls through, for whatever reason, you’ll lose a damn good partner when she transfers the hell out of Dodge.
It doesn’t leave many more options; workplace relationships, even those that aren’t as close as your partner, are still a potential minefield of overwrought emotions at the wrong moment. Meeting people outside of the workplace becomes harder the older you get.
But at the end of the day, you can be sure of one thing: there will always be the company of that bottle of Scotch to last you well into the dark, lonely night.