Snap back to reality

Well, this is interesting. I started typing this entry last night, Sunday, before going in to work. I was about halfway done with it, when Laura needed help putting Teddy down, and by the time I came back, it had been eaten by the ether, gone, lost and never saved. That's the price I pay for trying to type a post on a tablet.

I had been talking about some fun, stupid coincidences. How to leave it to me, the guy who's normally healthy as a horse, to come down with symptoms, wait a few days, go in to the ER, get diagnosed with a brain tumor, have surgery #1, wait two weeks, have surgery #2, wait a month, and then have my convalescent leave expire at the EXACT SAME TIME as when we start Daylight Saving Time. I go from sleeping 18 hours a day, to back to a roughly "normal" schedule, and then it's back to waking up at 5am at the ONE time that 5am actually feels like 4am.

Apparently I was snoring and Teddy was laughing at me.

Ugh.

Suffice it to say, I did survive the day. Another tick in the "leave it to me" column is that I return on the same day the Station starts our "CLEAR" visit - the Comprehensive Law Enforcement Assessment and Review. In other words, for the next two days we're getting graded on everything we do law enforcement-wise. And that has a LOT to do with our training and maintaining currency. Which is entirely my job.

Now, obviously, others stepped in and took my job while I was out, and they did a fantastic job. And they knew this review was coming so they prepped and got everything ready. That they could. But here I am, *struggling* in to work at 6:45, feeling like a need an extra, oh, 6 hours of sleep...and they're all being nice. I mean, don't get me wrong, the guys at the station are AWESOME. I love 'em to death. I work with an amazing crew and command and I couldn't ask for better.

So that's how they come up to me. With the "So...uhh...I know you just got back, but...uh...could you help me with why So-and-So isn't certified as XYZ?" Etc.

But then, honestly, that feels good. It feels good to not be treated with kid gloves, to still be needed and respected and treated like part of the team. To know that I do have a place. And that I can seamlessly join back with the Station, and do a job.

So reality is back. Didn't quite land with a ton of bricks, but it's there. Teddy had the most upset face I've ever seen when I woke him up at 5:30 this morning. A look of "Oh crap, I though we were done with this nonsense! What are you DOING?!" The plus side is, getting his tiny butt up at, what was to his mind 4:30, may finally help him return to going to sleep at a normal time.

Although this is all temporary. I know that, Laura knows it, the whole Station knows it...heck, Ted has probably figured it out. Because in a few weeks, we'll be welcoming Atkins #2 into the world and breaking all this routine into a million tiny pieces.

And now, it's almost 9:00, which is another way of saying dear God I need to go to bed.