Fireman's Wife

I met my husband 11 years ago.  We dated a while and then went our seperate ways.  During out time apart, he decided to persue a career in firefighting.  When we started dating again and finally decided to get married, I didn't think the it would cause too many problems in our everyday life.  Well, let me tell you.  It is very worrysome, lonely, inconvenient, and relaxing all mixed together.  We have a scanner that I listen to some times so I can follow most of what is going on if he gets called out on a structure fire.  That is when I am at home and not trying to work on homework.  With our city cutting jobs recently, it has made it very dangerous when they get called out and don't have enough manpower to watch each others back.  My biggest fear is that he is going to go into a burning house to save someone and loose his life in return.  It is also very lonely at times.  He works 24 on and 48 off.  It was very hard to get use to at first.  I like to come home and share with each other on how our day went.  When he's not home, and I have had a crappy day, it can be a lonely night.  I can not ever plan anything ahead either.  Most of the time, he is working one day of the weekend.  It really stinks around the holidays.  It seems like he has had to work all but two of the last seven Christmases we have had together.  Either he has had to change shifts, or it falls on his shift to work.  There are also times when I can't wait until he has to go back to the station.  I get to where I enjoy some time to myself.  It seems that I can get more homework done when he is not home than when he is.  He does help out with the kids, but they all carry on and make a lot of noise causing me to get distracted.  It has been rough, but I admire him for what he does.  As long as his job is there, he will always be there.