Life of a (Modern Day) Firewife

I suspect that the my life as a Firewife, in these times of tweety pages and bliggity blogs and facey spaces, may be different than my firewife predecessors.

My charming Firehubby is in frequent communication with me (and the rest of the world via his blog sidebar, twitter, facebook…) via cell phone. It’s nice to be in touch when he is gone for 24-72 hours at a time and is 75 miles away.

Often I get twitpics sent to my phone. This is interesting I must admit, but can be a bit unnerving at other times.

He sent me this twitpics a few days ago…

Interesting, yep.

But at the same time this can be a bit too much information for this firewife.

You see, I hate knowing when Firehubby is ACTUALLY on a call on our So. Cal. Freeways. These calls are equally dangerous, if not more so than a fire call.

If you have ever seen an accident on our freeways, you will have noticed an interesting phenomenon. That is, if you are in the opposite lanes of the accident, heading the opposite direction, EVERYONE will slow to about 2 to 5 miles per hour and take a turn checking out the action. Rubber necking. Gawkers block. Everyone else got to see it, go for it!

But, when one is driving directly past the accident, you know, in the next lane, it is best to go ahead and whiz by at a good 65 to 90 miles per hour. Those fire engines are just an annoyance. Hey, there are important places to go and people to see!!!

So for me, getting an “at-the-moment” message that Firehubby is in danger is not so great. You see, denial does serve me well.

If I don’t know about it…then, I don’t worry!

Blissful ignorance. Love it.

Here is another picture that was sent to me…

And another…

(just added these because I thought they were cool )

Now, I sometimes get telephone calls that go something like this…

“Hey babe, I’m rolling up to a huge fire. Turn on the news.”

Nice.

Those are the times that I distract myself by cleaning the house. (Never know when the fire chief is going to knock on the door with bad news.)

I know, I know that’s terrible. But, my protective “denial bubble” gets burst. It can be pretty fragile.

Well, what inspired me to write this post tonight?

Let me grab my phone and transcribe the text I just received at 09:43 pm …

“…on scene of assault…suspect still in house up street with guns…”

Comforting.

Then I laid my weary head down for bed, said a prayer for my sweet Firehubby, and tried to drift off to sleep… (oh yeah, that is after I blogged about it!)

The Life of a Firewife

Just returned from lunch with my friend in real life, Elaine, from Matters of the Heart.

I tell you, she is just the sweetest friend!

Firehubby and I were going to have a date today, and I was really looking forward to it. Afterall, there are only 5 more weeks until summer break and then we will have to put a pause on our dating while the kids are at school. I cherish this time with my hubby and it is hard to have evening dates with the high cost of babysitters.

Anyway, I digressed…

Firehubby was recalled! For those of you not familiar with fire lingo, that means forced to go to work at a moments notice. His recall is important to his department as they are sending firefighters out to Santa Barbara. He won’t actually be going to S.B., he will be filling in for firefighters who are on their way to that major disaster.

Side note: Two firefighters have been burned fighting the Santa Barbara wildfires. I know that they, their families, and the citizens of S.B. could certainly use many prayers!

Ok, back to my other train of thought…

So, no date with Firehubby, I will adjust my attitude, because clearly others need him more today.

May I digress again?

One challenge of being a Firewife is that you have to change your life at a moments notice and make sacrifices, just as the firefighter does. This can be very stressful.

Today is no different. I am scheduled to work tomorrow. Remember, I only work when Firehubby is off duty and there is not such thing as a childcare provider for our family. So, I need to find someone to watch my kids at 0545 tomorrow morning. Not such an easy task on a Saturday morn. Plus, it is possible that Firehubby will not be released at all. They could actually keep him on duty for days. So, I have to be sure to line someone up for the entire day. Plus, I am scheduled for Mother’s day. The hospital cannot do without me either. I don’t know how I am going to do this…

Thanks for listening friends…it helps to get it off my chest.

Back to the highlight of my day…

Lunch with Elaine and Rooney was so nice! Delicious food and great company!
Now, let me BRAG about that little Rooney. He is 2 1/2 and is above and beyond intelligent. I sat in amazement as he spelled his name, identified and then actually counted objects and knew the sounds to all of the letters that he pointed out.

I can brag, because he is not my boy “) WOW! This is Rooney. My brilliant little friend! And cute as a button!

Well, thanks again for listening. I usually try to be positive in my posts, but this is quite a day.