"Be safe!"

Every morning when Officer Hottie kisses me good-bye I tell him to "be safe". I'm not sure when I started this, probably sometime around the time that Ed passed away, but it has become a normal part of our goodbye routine. This morning he crawled over the bed and kissed me, said goodbye, have a good day...all the usual. As he was walking out our bedroom door he turned around and said, "Tell me to be safe!" I hadn't realized how much this had become part of our routine until I forgot to say it. I always thought he must find me a little silly for saying it because of course he's going to be safe! He's not a kid after all, and I'm not his mother, so why the reminder? It must be because I want him to know how much I want him to come home. This morning I realized it must be accomplishing what I want it to; he likes the reminder. Isn't it funny how those little things can come to mean so much? My friend Becky said she started telling her husband "Don't be a hero". I like that one too, although I feel if someone heard me say that to him they'd think I'm rather selfish. I am selfish, I can admit it. I want my husband coming home; I don't want to be a single mom and I want my children to know their father and I hope someday we'll be old enough to have matching tennis balls for the backs of our walkers. Let the firemen be the heroes, everyone likes them anyway! Since I'm too chicken to actually ask my husband to not be a hero, I'll just remind him to be safe. And now that I know he likes the reminder, I'll never forget to say it again.