Shauna
5_2005

This is our second time in the Border Patrol. My husband was an agent from 97-99 when we decided to leave El Paso to pursue something better. The something better never happened, so in 2001, I encouraged him to apply again. Never in our wildest dreams did we think it would take over 2 years to get back in, especially for a former BP agent.

Fast forward to July 2002, we finally were in the background investigation. Because we had moved from El Paso to MI and then to WI, it was taking forever for them to finish. This was strange considering this wasn't his first time in. He was unemployed by this point and was staying home and taking care of the kids while I worked. In January of 03 we decided to move back to
El Paso and stay with his parents while we waited. In June of that same year we finally were nearing the end of the wait. We had read on the board that they were sending agents to Ajo. We had always joked that we would be sent there. My husband called Mary and asked her if we could go to Ajo and she said yes. FedEx arrived a few days later and he was set to EOD July 12.

We traveled to Tucson to take him to his hotel. From there, my children, my in-laws, and I went to Ajo to check it out. Driving into Ajo, I felt like I was on the moon. The landscape was so strange looking and the heat was unbearable. We drove through town and looked at the houses. We stopped and ate at Pizza Hut, spent the night in a motel and went home. Later, in August, I came back with my parents to find a house.

I fell in love with an old house near the plaza. The second I walked in I knew I wanted it. Two weeks before we were set to move to Ajo, the owners of the house backed out of the deal.

I have been able to work from home off and on since we moved here. After the birth of our third son I cut back on work and eventually quit to care for the children. A major drawback of living here is the lack of childcare.

We are now torn between starting to apply for other jobs so we can transfer out or just stay here. My husband's good friend that he went through the academy with just got transferred to Tucson so there goes my best friend too. We are also looking into buying a bigger house here and renting out our house to another family. If I have to spend several more years here, I want to enjoy it because Ajo can be a wonderful place to live. I know this town scares people, particularly the wives and girlfriends. I think the majority of the trainees and their families are moving to Buckeye and Maricopa. That is a 90 mile drive for them each way. We have thought seriously about it but if we can manage getting a bigger house in town, we will stay here.

As far as the medical care, shopping and other things go, we really don't mind it. A trip to Phoenix about once a week is pretty much the norm. We just take a cooler and do our shopping there. We try to coordinate doctor's appointments so we can get everything done the same day. The clinic here does have 2 doctors and 2 PAs. The grocery store moved last year and is a bigger store than it used to be. We got a Family Dollar store a few months ago. The schools are the main issue. The public school is having some problems and the private school isn't all it can be, well neither is the public school but that won't change anytime soon.

Overall, Ajo isn't a bad place. It upsets me that it isn't given a chance. If more people would stay here, things would change. A lot of the newer trainees just won't live here and give it a chance. In my opinion, life for my family wouldn't be any better if we lived closer to a city, we would just spend more money and my husband would be risking his life driving a 90 mile each way drive every day just so I could shop at Wal-Mart when I wanted to, that isn't worth it to us.


Shauna

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