Posted by: Blue
December 25, 2011 will mark the first Christmas Day in 28 years that I have not spent the entire day with my family.
If it is quiet enough, my partner and I plan to sneak over to my mother-in-law's for some turkey and pumpkin pie.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Holiday Gift Giving and Racism
Posted by: Blue
Shoplifting calls have skyrocketed in the past few weeks. Everyone wants to give something to their family for Christmas. Some people just steal the presents instead of paying for them with their hard-earned money.
This weekend was cheque weekend. The drunk tank had a steady line of cruisers waiting to deposit their detainees who were full of Holiday Cheer. I personally tanked 3 people.
Two of them were celebrating their birthdays (separate events).
The other one was having a family reunion and had come from up on one of the Northern Aboriginal reserves with the rest of the family to bring her daughter in for medical appointments. She was screaming the entire way to the tank that we couldn't take her away from her daughter. I calmly told her that we could, and we had, and that her daughter would be fine with Child and Family Services for the night. She called me and my partner racist. My partner, who is half Native, told her so, also explaining that his wife was full-blooded Native and was the daughter of a Chief and that we were not in fact racist, but that we could not leave a five-year-old child in the care of adults who were so intoxicated that they could not stand.
I went on to tell her that I believed that she was the racist one for jumping to the conclusion that because I happen to be white and also happened to be doing my job and caring for her child because she couldn't be bothered to stay sober enough to guarantee that her daughter made it to the hospital the next day, that I was the racist one. I told her she should be ashamed of herself and that maybe she should rethink the events that brought her to the tank that night while she was sobering up in the concrete cell.
She was quiet for the rest of the trip.
I love people and I try to have a lot of patience, but even the most loving parent can turn into a horrible person with too much alcohol. Alcohol and drugs change people. Everyone who I deal with who is intoxicated is an entirely different person if I run into them and they are sober. Most of them apologize for how they were when I was dealing with them last. I am always willing to forgive and to treat them how they are treating me at the time.
Shoplifting calls have skyrocketed in the past few weeks. Everyone wants to give something to their family for Christmas. Some people just steal the presents instead of paying for them with their hard-earned money.
This weekend was cheque weekend. The drunk tank had a steady line of cruisers waiting to deposit their detainees who were full of Holiday Cheer. I personally tanked 3 people.
Two of them were celebrating their birthdays (separate events).
The other one was having a family reunion and had come from up on one of the Northern Aboriginal reserves with the rest of the family to bring her daughter in for medical appointments. She was screaming the entire way to the tank that we couldn't take her away from her daughter. I calmly told her that we could, and we had, and that her daughter would be fine with Child and Family Services for the night. She called me and my partner racist. My partner, who is half Native, told her so, also explaining that his wife was full-blooded Native and was the daughter of a Chief and that we were not in fact racist, but that we could not leave a five-year-old child in the care of adults who were so intoxicated that they could not stand.
I went on to tell her that I believed that she was the racist one for jumping to the conclusion that because I happen to be white and also happened to be doing my job and caring for her child because she couldn't be bothered to stay sober enough to guarantee that her daughter made it to the hospital the next day, that I was the racist one. I told her she should be ashamed of herself and that maybe she should rethink the events that brought her to the tank that night while she was sobering up in the concrete cell.
She was quiet for the rest of the trip.
I love people and I try to have a lot of patience, but even the most loving parent can turn into a horrible person with too much alcohol. Alcohol and drugs change people. Everyone who I deal with who is intoxicated is an entirely different person if I run into them and they are sober. Most of them apologize for how they were when I was dealing with them last. I am always willing to forgive and to treat them how they are treating me at the time.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Christmas Miracle
This year, while The Boy is on Christmas break, Blue is on Day Shift and then he's off.
I'm thankful that while the kids are at home during the days over the holidays I don't have toyell whisper at them to be quiet because their dad is sleeping.
To me it feels like a real Christmas miracle.
I'm thankful that while the kids are at home during the days over the holidays I don't have to
To me it feels like a real Christmas miracle.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Homicides
Posted by: Blue
There are 236 neighbourhoods in our city of approximately 700 000. Of those 236 neighbourhoods, 14 of them clustered together at the centre of the city in approximately 6 square km's (2.3 square miles or 1482.6 acres) have been the location of 75% of the murders this year to date.
This means that 75% of the murders this year have occurred in an area equivalent to 1.2% of the land mass that the city covers.
There are 236 neighbourhoods in our city of approximately 700 000. Of those 236 neighbourhoods, 14 of them clustered together at the centre of the city in approximately 6 square km's (2.3 square miles or 1482.6 acres) have been the location of 75% of the murders this year to date.
This means that 75% of the murders this year have occurred in an area equivalent to 1.2% of the land mass that the city covers.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Parent Teacher Interview
There's nothing better than seeing your handsome uniformed husband squished into a little elementary school desk attentively listening on while your son proudly displays his artwork and achievements.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Missing Daddy
Waffle was missing her daddy today. She asked me what he was up to and if he was fighting with someone. It's funny to see her figure out what his job is all about.
Blue and I both have the same cell phone and on these spiffy phones we can send each other photo's and video's inside our text messages.
Waffle sent Blue a picture of herself and a video saying, "I love you daddy!"
She's trying to understand why he's sometimes here for days at a time and sometimes gone for, what seems like, days at a time. Why some nights he's sleeping here and some nights he doesn't come home.
Last week she had a nightmare at 4:00 in the morning while Blue was on shift. She came upstairs and jumped into my bed shaking and crying. I sent Blue a text letting him know and before you knew it he was on the phone with her reassuring her that everything was fine.
Today he sent her back a picture of him in his uniform and cruiser car. She was very excited.
It's a nice feature that gives her a little glimpse into his world when he's out on the job.
I'm sure that this is a confusing transition for a 4 year-old.
Blue and I both have the same cell phone and on these spiffy phones we can send each other photo's and video's inside our text messages.
Waffle sent Blue a picture of herself and a video saying, "I love you daddy!"
She's trying to understand why he's sometimes here for days at a time and sometimes gone for, what seems like, days at a time. Why some nights he's sleeping here and some nights he doesn't come home.
Last week she had a nightmare at 4:00 in the morning while Blue was on shift. She came upstairs and jumped into my bed shaking and crying. I sent Blue a text letting him know and before you knew it he was on the phone with her reassuring her that everything was fine.
Today he sent her back a picture of him in his uniform and cruiser car. She was very excited.
It's a nice feature that gives her a little glimpse into his world when he's out on the job.
I'm sure that this is a confusing transition for a 4 year-old.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)