Being married to a firefighter

There are many pluses and minuses to being married to a firefighter, some are obvious, and others not so much. Some obvious pluses: Hubby always looks hot in work uniform. There are certain bragging rights that come with being married to a firefighter, because you are so proud of what he does. He is off work more days of the week than not. He always knows how to handle household emergencies and medical emergencies because that's the kind of stuff he's trained in.

There are also some benefits to the job that are not so well known. Like, they wash their work clothes at work=less laundry for me. There is one caveat to this, and that is the few days a year he trains at the fire academy but I don't mind the few times a year addition to my laundry pile. The smell of the fire and sweat totally turns me on as I envision him in that uniform. Plus, the pride swells up inside because I know he was off doing something that positively impacted the lives of youth of this country. Another bonus is that he cooks, cleans, and picks up at work; it's part of his job description. Why is this good? I KNOW he knows how to do these things and he knows it is simply not "woman's work". These men are responsible for keeping the fire station probably cleaner than most homes because it is seen as a direct reflection of the department when they get the public through. So, they mop, scrub, wipe down, disinfect, and tidy up their home away from home aka: the fire station. I often times think my husband doesn't see the clutter in our home. But, when I go to the fire station it is always so tidy and clean, and that IS the expectation. So, I know he knows what the difference is between tidy and clean. I can say, "honey, can you please help me tidy the house" and he knows exactly what I mean. And speaking of clean, my husband is the king of clean, I think much accredited to his job duties. So, thank you fire station for your cleanliness requirements, because it has instilled a clean quality in my husband which our house greatly benefits from.

Another really cool plus? Our son, who is obsessed with trucks and basically anything with big tires gets to see fire trucks up close and personal basically any time he wants. Man he loves it!

By the way, did you know firefighters spend 1/4 of their life at the station? This means that these people become like family, another less known fact about fire fighters. You gain another family in the department.

Then, there are the minuses to being married to a firefighter. The obvious ones: He is at work at least 24 hour shifts at a time. Each time he goes to work, I worry just a little bit, despite the fact that he works at a slow department. Any wife would. Anytime my husband doesn't answer his phone when he's at work, I immediately wonder if he's on a call and worry then too. Any wife would.

It can also be a minus that he has to cook dinner at the department every third shift. He rarely remembers before the morning of, and it is a real pain in the ass to come up with dinner plans for three men at 6am when you're flat on your back halfway asleep! My goal is to learn at some point to just plan ahead for him so we don't have these 6am panics. I always feel like his dinner and lunch is somehow a reflection on me, and feel like I didn't feed him or them well if his lunch and the dinner suck ass.

The not so obvious minuses of being married to a firefighter. Being a firefighter doesn't exactly pay as well as it should, considering they are willing to give their life every day to save someone elses. This means most firefighters have a second job which means they aren't really home all those "days off". This equates to hubby gone a lot. Also, added on to the 24 hour shift is commute time (like anyone else who works) but there is also the morning shift change coffee talk time. While my husband does not discuss this with me, I've learned over the years it is there. He gets off work at 7:30am and if I have not told him about some pressing reason he has to rush home, he will typically hang out at the station for about 45 minutes after his shift is over. If I call during that time, I hear all the guys chatting. Shift change coffee talk. This equates to 26 hours out of the home which often equates to me really ready for a break from the kids. But I feel that he probably needs that decompress coffee talk time too, so it's ok and I pretend like I don't know.

Being married to a firefighter inevitably means you spend holidays at the fire station and you (or the hubby) miss out on family events. I can't count on both hands how many holidays and family events my husband has missed over the years because of work. But, that is how those firefighters and their families become family. When you're spending Christmas, or Thanksgiving, or Easter together at the fire station, you become close. So, it isn't that bad. We always have a good time there. It is a family sacrifice we all make. Being married to a firefighter means being a hero in the shadows because we give up parts of our lives, for them to give theirs.

All in all, it is a good life and I am so proud to be married to a firefighter.