Phew!!

So I managed to get the message out to my dad about the exam results coming back. He is out of town right now, camping with my mom... My mom has absolutely no idea that I am applying for the Mounted Police. When she does find out, she is going to come completely unhinged at me, I just know it.

How do I know it? well,about a year ago, I mentioned rather casually to her that I would like a framed set of prints like my father's, depicting three Sergants of the Mounted Police from the NWMP, RNWMP and RCMP. That launched her into an hour long tirade about how I should never be a cop, people want to kill you and then look what happened to Mike Ferguson, etc. etc., over and over.

Which is why my father and I have been rather cloak and daggar when we talk about my application status. We almost got busted last week when they were here, Dad and I were talking in the bedroom (right next to my gun lockers) and my mother came in, so we just shifted topics midstream. My mother later asked me "so do you and dad have some sort of secret? You stopped talking when I came in the room earlier" No mom, we were talking about my rifles for the big hunting trip next month... good save. Maybe. I'm not so sure that she bought it.

It has made for some careful, if peculiar conversations. when I called my dad yesterday, I told him to talk to me about the procedure to clean the gas jets in the barbecue because it wasn't heating properly. One side of the conversation is barbecues, the other side is my letter from staffing. all summer as they were on their trip when I wanted to talk to him about my application, I told my mother that "the lawnmower is acting up, can I talk to dad, please?"

One day I will have to tell her. With any luck, the conversation will go something like this:

"Bye mom, I'm leaving for Regina now. See you in six months!"

The upside to all of this is I can probably milk her paranoia to my own personal gain. I want a better bulletproof vest than what the force issues. I disagree with the concept of the overt, flack jacket style of vest. I think it looks like you are looking for a fight. I think a concealable vest is a better choice for duty use, that goes under the shirt. I also want a stronger vwest than is issued, too. There is a new vest out on the market the last couple of years called Dragon Skin which will actually stop a lot of armour piercing rifle rounds, and is availiable in a concelable carrier version. I want one. I can milk mom's fears into buying me one of those, I'm sure - she bought my dad a vest for his birthday one year back in the day before the force started issuing vests.