Brett’s Father In Law Retires

When I was first dating my wife, I was so nervous around her dad.  You see, he was a New York State Trooper.  From someone who doesn’t come from a family of police officers, that can be a bit nerve racking…even if you’re not doing anything wrong!  But today I couldn’t be more proud to call him my father in law.

He’s been talking about it for years but now, it’s official.  He’s retired.  That was something that was fun to explain to my kids.  They assume that if you no longer go to work, you must have gotten fired.  After a couple different tries to explain it, his explanation was the best I have ever heard.  He explained, “I’ve done such a good job that they’re going to let me stop now.”  It is completely true.

He has been a great police officer from the time that he was on the road to his most recent duties as an investigator.

I came along when he was still in uniform.  I remember a guy that would take shifts on Christmas morning so that the younger troopers would have time with their families.  He was a guy who according to my wife would always clean his gun when boys came over to take his daughters out.  She explained that he must like me because he didn’t do that when I came around.  Now you can see why I was a bit nervous for those first couple dates.

And now that his daughters are grown with families of their own, we have gotten to see a different side of Poppa.  A man named Harry Emerson Fosdick once said, ‘Don't simply retire from something; have something to retire to.”  I understand the prestige behind The NYSP.  It’s something that I tried for and wasn’t able to achieve.  I have always been proud to say that my father in law was a Trooper.  And I will still be proud of him...even when I describe him as my kids Poppa who was an incredible Trooper.  I just wanted to say congratulations…not just for what you’re retiring from…but what you’re retiring to.