Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
He got up and walked to the deck railing, leaning over, looking out at the yard as the kids made back-and-forth trips, clearing the table until all that was left was the wine bottle and my glass. I could hear the water running inside and the clink of the dishwasher being loaded, and still Sam was quiet.
“Would you want your men taking this much responsibility?”
“It’s different.”
He was buried in guilt, and no matter what anyone said, it wouldn’t lessen because he wouldn’t allow it to. But logically he knew, and that guy was in there somewhere. “I suspect when you became a policeman, you were told that you couldn’t save everyone.”
“I was.”
“And in the military as well, right?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
I sighed deeply, and he turned to look at me. “I’m not saying not to care, you know that, but, love, the moment you became aware of the failings in your office, you fixed them. And I think that killing yourself over things that you weren’t supposed to be overseeing is an exercise in masochism. There is actually only so much you can be expected to do.”
He stood there staring at me.
I smiled back at him. “Maybe cut yourself a little slack.”
“I just—what kills me the most is that no one cares,” he sighed. “I mean, this kid was all alone and he had no one and we failed him.”
“So don’t fail again.”
He scoffed. “That simple?”
“Do your best, baby. That’s all anyone can ask of you.”
He nodded.
“And come home every night and hug your kids and never forget to tell them how special they are and how much you love them.”
He levered off of the railing and walked over to me, taking the seat that Hannah had vacated, and leaned forward, into me, forehead on my shoulder as I slid a hand around the side of his neck.
“We all love you. Keep it in mind.”
“I love you back.”
“Yes, honey, we know.”
That’s it, everyone. Have a good rest of May and I’ll talk to you in June.
JUNE 2018
Hello, everyone, and welcome to my column. I’m Jory Harcourt, and I’m here answering questions about kids, life with my husband, and of course giving out unsolicited advice. Because who doesn’t like that? Anyway, here we go!
DEAR JORY:
What are words of advice or reminders that you and your husband give your children in terms of sayings or something repeated that you say around the house a lot?
Jory: My advice tends to come from lots of different sources. For instance, “when in doubt, throw it out,” is from my brother and cuts down on clutter around the house. “False enthusiasm is better than no enthusiasm at all,” is from my mother-in-law, who always wants everyone to feel good when they announce something that everyone has to do instead of wants to do. My husband has told both our kids, “always double-tap.” Meaning of course that if someone came after them, tried to hurt them, and they put that person down, then go ahead and shoot them again to make sure they stay down and can’t come after them. This of course has only, thankfully, come in handy playing video games thus far. “Head on a swivel,” is another one and something my husband barks—I mean says—to all of us whenever we walk across a parking lot, walk into a mall, an arena, whatever. He wants us to look around and be aware of our surroundings and not have our faces in our phones. He is also a big “trust but verify” guy and “inspect what you expect.” I say, “leave something better than you found it,” and that means a room (as in go ahead and unload that dishwasher or put away leftovers), people (give a compliment when you can or a smile), or even advice.
Sam: You forgot “pain is weakness leaving the body.”
Jory: Not a fan of that one, as you know. Trying to get you to go to the doctor is hard enough without any more macho crap.
Sam: You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Jory: Of course not.
Sam: It’s important for kids to stay strong and not cry about every little thing.
Jory: But it’s also important that they tell their parents when they’re in pain.
Sam: Well, of course it is!
Jory: And to tell people when, say, they’ve pulled their stitches and need to go back to the doctor.
Sam: I have no idea where you’re going with this.
DEAR JORY:
How do you deal with secrets, not bad ones but good ones, like, for instance, if say your husband saved someone’s life on the job but jumped off the side of a building to do it? How do you handle being blindsided, even by something remarkable?
Jory: Well, sometimes, when perhaps a video that the person you love didn’t know was being taken but was in fact uploaded to YouTube before the marshal service could have it removed and then you see something like that…it comes as quite a shock.