E. and I met way back in about 1989 or 1990 or so, when I had to do some hours for a criminal justice class at the juvenile hall where he was a supervisor. I liked it so much, I eventually became a regular on-call detention staff, as well as an intern with the juvenile probation department. Turns out, we also wound up having several classes together at UNR. When E. got married, I even attended his wedding!
As graduation approached in 1993, I desperately wanted a job as a Juvenile Probation Officer, so when I was hired in rural Nevada, I found myself moving across the state. E. wound up transferring from detention to probation as well and in 1995, we attended the same P.O.S.T. Academy (8 weeks of policy academy hell). We kept in touch sporadically throughout the years, mostly through trainings and transports.
I figured I'd be in Elko forever. I had a job I loved as a Juvenile Probation Officer. My husband rocked his job as a Flight Paramedic. We adopted our daughter and our seven sons. We were living the good life. Then, in 2004, life took a traumatic turn. My husband was killed in a helicopter crash (the air medical crew was transporting a critically ill infant and her mother from Battle Mountain to Reno). I subsequently became a stay-at-home-mom.
A few years later, my boys and I returned to the big city of Reno. I just so happened to run into E., who was recently divorced. We went to lunch. Later, we went to dinner. And as they say, the rest is history. It was my boys and I (then ages 12, 11, 9, 8, 7, 7, and 7 ... my daughter had reached adulthood and was independent) and his girls and him (then ages 14 and 12). But wait, we weren't done. Our little surprise Peanut was born in March of 2009. A few weeks before he was born, E. was diagnosed with Stage IV Esophageal Cancer, which is when this blog first started.
I know I've shared this pictured before, but here is our beautiful family (from 2011):
The girls are now 19 and 17. The boys are now 17, 16, 14, 13, 12, 12, and 12. And Peanut is 3.
This is where the magic wand is supposed to click overhead and we all get to "live happily ever after."
Thank you for sharing. Maybe, if we all look hard enough, we'll find that blankety-blank magic wand.
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