Mother Tucker

In the course of conversing with a friend of mine this past weekend, I came upon the realization that Justin had embarked on this firefighter superman adventure 1 year ago.

He turned in his paperwork showing he was interested and he got an interview with the head staff (chief) the first part of June.  He went through the rigmarole of finding and purchasing his first full suit; tie, belt, socks and all. He looks snazzy when he’s dressed up . . . mmm mmm good! He then had to schedule all of his prerequisite tests for college level, well, everything and he had to show up and pass a physical abilities test mid-summer. Then there was paperwork galore and vaccines, cuz you work with real patients, ride real firetrucks to real calls, etc, don’t want any blood-born diseases . . . is that how you write that? Blood born? Anyway, thats beside the point, you get it.

And the stress and nervousness before each test or entry point . . . right into EMT Basics where you maintained a C or above or you were completely out of the program.

Not having attended school since he was a wee teenage boy, he was a bit insecure about how he would do at the schoolwork end of stuff. Of course, because of his outstanding work ethic, he does fantastic at all aspects! I do like to brag, I do! I’m so very proud of him. And he’s on my mind cuz he’s on shift today . . . waking at 4am to get to the station by 5:30am for 24 hours of firefighting extravaganza . . . oh, and a few menial classes.

Sorry, I had to answer the phone . . . it was my hubby . . . his ears must of been ringing, considering I’m creating an entire post about him . . . not that this is the first time. Carp!

So, where was I?

Oh yeah, so he’s doing good.  Last term he had 26 credits, um, thats a lot. Over double of the minimum full time credits. He managed a 3.6 GPA despite the extensive work load of Chemistry and EMT Basics . . . amongst other fire related classes.

And now he’s working towards officer level.  He has oral presentations tomorrow and then he finds out how he was ranked; lieutenant or captain.

And then . . . then he starts drilling testing other youngins that are coming into the program . . . fun. That starts in July, I think.

The balance of family, school and work is a hard feat! We’ve had our tough days and weeks . . . I frequently run the selfish ‘I need you here’ brouhaha and he frequently gives in but its hard to switch gears from intense learning, drilling and fireman duties . . . to home life, which is rigorous in toddler-hood and  needs of its own.  Many of the single fireman in his class are interning; literally living at the firestations to learn their duties. The job is intense.

Civil service (I think thats the right name for policeman, fireman, etc) have some of the highest divorce rates. We’re learning what some of the stresses are and are determined to beat it at its own game. Of course, divorce isn’t even an option in my head . . . but a healthy and happy marriage is . . . and the boys having a happy and healthy dad is a priority as well. So we’ll learn as we go . . . we’ve already learned so much!

Well, that is plenty of thoughtage for ya for one day. 

My hubby is on your far left, a buddy of his in the middle and I have not a clue who the guy is on the right. I need to get pics of him in his blues! So hot!!  And yeah, me hubby is making a face. I didn’t take the pic.