Maureen is the first to inform me that she saw me on the news,
And this is after she sets a box down in the empty apartment I've taken residence in.
Hard to believe I've actually moved, but I don't need that place to myself,
And I know Kathy isn't going to go back as long as I'm there,
So now I'm here, in Manhattan, with the kids, because I've enlisted them to help move.
For once, none of them complain about it,
Which is actually funny now that I think about it.
My oldest child's initial comment catches the attention of her siblings,
Who weren't really paying attention in the first place,
And they all confirm her story, which makes me wonder exactly how much of the news
They actually watch, to which Dickie tells me they watch long enough to see what's up
With the department, and once it's over and they're assured everything's fine,
They change it to whatever else is on.
Figures.
Kathleen drops her own box, which thankfully doesn't have anything breakable in it,
And then informs me that she couldn't do what I do.
I ask her why, even though I'm secretly relieved by this, and she tells me
That it's really because she doesn't think she could handle it emotionally.
I don't tell her that sometimes it feels that way for me, too.
Don't know whether or not to be bothered by the fact that they know what I do,
But they've grown up so much that I shouldn't be surprised by it.
I'm not, really.
But there's still that one part of me that wishes they didn't know.
That they didn't pay so much attention.
Elizabeth tells me when I say this that they dislike being uninformed about
What's going on in the city, which I really can't fault them for,
I don't like it, either.
But the difference between them and me is that I'm a cop, and they're not.
I don't point this out.
Instead I inform them that we're done for the day, even though we're not,
And that we're going for ice cream, because I feel like it.
Haven't done that in a while, and as we file out, Kathleen pokes me in the arm.
I look at her and she looks back, and says that she doesn't care what other people say,
She's proud of me, and what I do.
And I wonder as she says this if she really knows how much it means to me.