The Fireman's Wife

I am the wife of a fireman. At different times in my life, I have wanted to be various types of wives. The housewife, the trophy wife, the career wife, and most often - the lottery winner's wife! But being the fireman's wife is not something that I had ever considered.

When Travis told me that he wanted to go back to school to become a fireman, I thought "Great! He is finally doing something that he wants to do!" I supported him with my whole heart and was very excited for him. I never really thought about how it would affect me. In fact, when people asked me how I felt about it, I would say that I was happy for him and that everything would be great. Honestly though, I didn't know how I felt about it because I never really thought about it. I knew that I would have to sacrifice my time with my husband, not only to go to school but also because our schedules would be forever different. I can be a bit selfish sometimes (that is a shocking revelation, isn't it?) and I did not look forward to the inevitable times that he would be called away during dinner (or Christmas Eve.) That being said, it wasn't too hard of an adjustment to make.

Travis is still pretty new to the Firefighter/EMT career. He has been working for Franklin for about 6 weeks and has been a volunteer for about 8 months. He usually works a 12 hour shift every 3rd day and is now getting some 24 hour shifts thrown in. He is also on call every Monday, Tuesday and every other weekend and has meeting or training 3 Wednesdays a month. When you throw that in with my Thursday night class and two small children, we don't have much time to ourselves.

Last night I got stuck in the driveway (damn snow!) One of the perks of being a firefighter is that you get to borrow the snow plow so Travis got me out fairly quickly once he got home. He then had to plow two of the neighbor's driveways and then he got called on an EMT run. After all was said and done, he didn't get home until after 9:30. Our plans of eating dinner in bed and watching the Olympics were pretty much shot (the kids were at Mammaw's.)

I know it sounds like I am complaining, but I promise that I am not. Yesterday morning Travis got called on an EMT run. It was a "possible stroke victim" that turned out to be heart problems. He performed CPR on this person for an hour and a half before the person ultimately died. This as Travis's first fatality on a run. When he told me about it he said "I guess I am not much of a hero after all." But that is not true. He is a hero to me and to our kids and to that person's family. I would not have the knowledge or, more importantly, the courage to do what he did and I don't think many of us do. All the time he spends away from our family is a sacrifice that we are both willing to make because it is for the greater good of the community. If I or my family was hurt or dying, there is no one I would want more to be caring for them than Travis. He has everything that you could want in a rescuer. He has the knowledge, the courage and the heart to save lives and when one is lost, he goes out again and saves the next person. I have always been proud of my husband but I don't think I have ever been THIS proud. I am not just a fireman's wife, I am also a HERO'S WIFE!