Another Fallen member...

I live in a small town where everyone knows who I am. I work in a place where people come in and out all day. Many people asked me what I thought about the latest member gunned down in Nunavut. "It's terrible, a tragedy", "He was so young, and our thoughts go out to the family", and "It really hits close to home" are things that I say to the people who ask this question. There is nothing I could say that truly expresses how it feels to hear that news and think, that could have been my husband. That was someone's husband ( or brother, or father...) the families.. their sadness...As a mother of a toddler, and a wife to a RCMP member.. all of the deaths of members in the line of duty have caused me to put myself in the situation of the mothers, wives, and sisters who have lost these special men and women. I know it is so easy to take our loved ones for granted as they walk out the door each night. I know I don't think about the repercussions of my husband heading out each night, because frankly, I can't. To cognitively think about the fact that the person I love so much is putting their life on the line to police people that in the majority of cases, are ungrateful and treat them as if they were an annoyance makes me irate. When I overhear people talking about how they got a speeding ticket from some 'stupid cop' I want to approach them and ask, "Do you believe that people should be punished when they break the law? Then, if you were speeding, why do you believe you should not be punished. You broke the law. It is their job to make sure you are aware that you broke the law. Stupid is not enforcing the law, it's breaking it" . Simply put, it shouldn't take these tragedies for people to wake up and realize that as a society, we are breeding a generation who thinks that is it ok to hate the people that will lose their lives for your safety. Whether it's the 'stupid' cop that gave you a speeding ticket, or the 'jerk' that gave you a DUI when you hardly blew over... just remember what it is they were sworn to do. Protect us, even if it is from ourselves.

I have been where you fear to be
I have seen what you fear to see
I have done what you fear to do
All these things I've done for you

The man you ask to stand apart
The man you feel has no heart
The man you call the man in blue
But I'm just a man just like you

I am the man you lean upon
The man you cast your scorn upon
The man you bring your troubles to
All these men I've been for you

And through the years I've come to see
That I am not what you ask of me
So take this badge and take this gunWill you take it? - Will anyone?

And when you watch a person die
And hear a battered baby cry
Then do you think that you can be
All these things you ask of me.

- Author Unknown

Alternate Blog Title..'Tales of a knocked up, washed up cheerleader'..

So why a blog called 'Surviving Average"? I know, it sounds, well, kinda boring. But before I get into WHY the blog, I thought I would start by telling you a little about myself.

I am hopelessly, utterly, shamelessly, normal. I grew up with two parents that loved me, and took great care of me. I have two older siblings who are normal, functioning human beings in this world. We went on family vacations, we rode bikes up and down our neighborhood, we actually ate supper together EVERY night around the table, together.. as a family. Basically, we were the family in a crime drama before our dad killed us all. We really were that normal.

Growing up I was enrolled, as many of my fellow 'normal' counterparts' are, in the 'Perfect Child Programme". I took ballet, horse back riding lessons, music lessons, swimming, softball, soccer, cheerleading.. I think you get the point. I was the antithesis of goth in high school. I was a cheerleader, I dressed in baby blue and pink, I loved horses, I got good grades and took advanced classes, I dated a nice hockey player (I know.. in his case this term is NOT an oxymoron). I went to parties, but I always made it home for curfew.

I was a good kid.. I was normal, I was average. I even went on to marry that same nice hockey player from high school. That's right.. I even married my high school sweetheart (but not before bucking average for once in my life.. I got pregnant in my last semester of University. However, when you've made your life out of being THIS normal, people didn't really seem to upset. In fact, I dare say they almost saw it coming).

So in long (because these sorts of explanations are never as short as they intend to be!!) I now have two and a half kids, and I am married to my nice hockey playing husband, who is a 'normal Canadian guy'.

But is that ALL that there is to my story? A paint by numbers sort of story that is as boring as it is predictable?

So back to the title of my blog.. 'Surviving Average'. Well, in my quest to become anything other than ordinary, I discovered that there is beauty, and hilarity in just being who you are. So welcome to my blog...