The Broken Badge is a collection of my poetry about grief. Although my writing is greatly influenced by my own experience as a police widow, everyone interprets these poems according to their unique life experiences. It is my hope that as you read my poems, that those with grieving hearts will realize that they are not alone on their journey, that others have felt all of the bewildering and sometimes out of control emotions too, and realize, eventually, we do smile and find laughter once again. I have tried to arrange my poems in an order to help guide one’s grief along, acknowledging the losses, anger, and fear that we feel, while also attempting to show that there still is joy out in the world…..it just may take a while to find it….or in my case, longer than some. But today, the sound of laughter once again fills my ears….and it is my own!