My beau, Beau

I have so much respect for Beau. I rarely give him enough credit for all the things he does. There are very few men out there that do what he does. He's a fantastic father, helps out around the house (inside and out) and has recently taken up cooking. In addition to that, he's a great provider.

In 2008 he decided that he had enough of the retail worker's life and tested for the San Antonio Fire Department. I was not so thrilled about this decision at first. I thought, there goes our holidays together; it's a huge paycut and; I'm not sure I'm comfortable with such a dangerous job. I quickly changed my mind when I saw how committed he was to this idea. I've never seen him so passionate about anything...even baseball! I knew this was when I needed to suck it up and go along with whatever made him happy.

So here we are...him, a firefighter and me, a firefighter's wife. He loves it! And I love that he's happy about what he does. I know there are people out there that think being a firefighter is a piece of cake. If they aren't making runs, they're taking naps, playing games or hanging out. While that maybe be the perception, it's not even close to being accurate. When Beau arrives on shift around 8:30 AM (shift doesn't officially start until 9:00), he relieves the firefighter from the prior shift and then proceeds to check the truck and supplies. They make sure there are enough supplies (air, backboards, gloves, buckets, etc.) for the 24 hour shift, check the hoses and then make sure everything is working properly (sirens, lights, horns, nozzles, etc.) After that, they could be making runs all day. Don't get me wrong, they're not constantly running to fires. They're doing other things like lifting up overweight people on stretchers, giving CPR ("bagging") someone that had a head attack, assuring young mothers that their child is okay and clearing out accidents. I know this is Beau's job. It's what he signed up for, but it's never easy to see a frantic family reacting after something horrible has gone wrong and you're trying to save their loved one's life.

In addition, it's never easy to be away from your family on holidays, evenings and weekends so that you can care for someone elses family. For those people that don't think firefighters do enough, I challenge you spend a day with them. Whether you're collecting donations on a hot street corner for Jerry's Kids, cooking dinner for 8 to 10 guys, stepping through blood and other unmentionables to save someone, or waking up 4 to 5 times a night for calls that seem meaningless, you'd probably change your perception of this occupation. After 9/11, how could you possibly doubt these folks?!?