We see the brave men and women in blue, the ones who protect us and keep our communities safe. But we often times forget they are more than that.

“There’s more to him than just being a police officer,” WFPD police wife, Lyndsey Gordon said. “He can take off his uniform and everyone loves him, but then he puts it on and automatically some people don’t like him.”

They are husbands, wives, brothers and sisters.

And also, many of them are mothers and fathers. And they want to make it home safely.

“My daughter, our two year old, looks out the window and she just screams when he comes in,” Gordon said. “Usually I open the front door and she just takes off running down the sidewalk.”

Lyndsey Gordon is the wife of WFPD patrol officer, John Gordon.

The two are high school sweethearts, and just a few years ago John wanted to pursue his dreams of becoming a police officer.

“I knew the dangers of the job and so for half a year to a year I told him ‘no,’ ” Gordon said. “Then the point came where I knew I was keeping him from something and so I told him to go ahead and do it and he made it.”

But now, still three years later, Lyndsey still worries every time her husband leaves for work.

“When you’re saying goodbye in the morning, you don’t know if he’s coming home or if you’re about to get the phone call to meet him at the hospital or at the station,” Gordon said. “I try not to dwell on that.”

“We’ve got to keep that hidden,” Gordon adds. “We don’t want our kids growing up scared for their dad to leave or their mom to leave. We want them to have faith in the world.”

“I think the hardest thing of being a police officers wife, or any law enforcement wife, is the fact that we’re scared for them but we don’t want our husbands to see that. They have so much going on out there that they don’t need to worry about what’s going on at home.”

And so for all law enforcement families: Thank you.

“When my husband comes home, you know when something happened because he’s spending longer with the kids or he hugs me just that 10 seconds longer,” Gordon said. “But they wouldn’t have sworn in to the city or wherever they’re working if they didn’t care about people.”