Crap...I'm getting older!

Last night I was driving though one of the more rural communities we serve when I came to a 4-way intersection. As I sat at the stop sign waiting for cross traffic I looked at the house across the street and had one of those "chuckle memories". You know, a memory where you recall an incident or event and you can't help but audibly chuckle at it. The kind of thing that makes anyone nearby look at you kind of sideways and say something like, "You okay?" or "What was that?"

Anyway, I saw this old house with a huge front and side yard surrounded by a four foot high wooden plank fence, kinda like the ones you see at fancy horse ranches, and I remembered answering a call of a fight at that residence and the male half being armed. When I arrived I wanted to approach stealthily so I parked down the road a short ways and walked back to the side yard of this home. The chuckle part came when I tried to jump the fence. I stepped onto the bottom plank and began to swing my other leg over the top of the fence when the plank gave way and popped right off the posts. The top plank hit me hard on the inside of my thigh and I was bruised there for weeks. More immediately, though, my attempt at stealth sucked because when the plank let go it made an awful clatter and then I let loose with some manner of short, loud expletive!

Anyway we handled the call no problems and the guy ended up not having any weapons in the house (they were in his truck). But the sudden flash of that memory made me chuckle and it was then I realized something horrible...

That happened over TEN YEARS AGO!!!!!!! WOW!!

I have become the veteran cop I never thought I would be when I was that fresh, new, 2 year Deputy trying to sneak up on a home and bustin' the guys crappy old fence. You know it's really true though, what they say, time really does fly when you're having fun!