Too Hot to Handle: About Trina

Hi! I am so glad you found my blog! I started Too Hot to Handle as a way to handle the fact that my husband's (family's) transition from elementary school teacher to professional firefighter was a rougher road than I prepared myself to deal with. But, this was his dream and I have decided to support him no matter what as he makes his journey though it. I needed an outlet and my blog started as a quasi-journal. I have been lucky to make so many connections with other fire wives and made a few friends along the way.

My husband and I met in college and starting dating after a "choir tour romance" - there was at least one every year. We have been married for 13 years and have 4 kids. I am a high school theology teacher/department chair/technology go to person at work. We are fans of big dogs. We have 3 in our pack right now, an old lady golden and two beautiful great pyrenees. These guys are my companions when my hubby is pulling 48s.

Sometimes our crazy life is difficult to balance and I feel more like a circus clown learning to juggle than a professional and mom. Ah well, the proverbial nothing worth having comes easy applies here.

Welcome!

I AM

Taken from "The Fireman's Wife" by Susan Farren

I am thank ful. This has not always been an easy walk for me.

I am disappointed. We have missed family gatherings, weddings, dinner engagements, birthday parties, and holidays because of shift schedules and overtime.

I am patient. There have been dinners spent at the firehouse waiting for Daddy to return from a call while the kids get cranky and the food gets cold.

I am nervous. I awake at 3:00 A.M. hearing creaks in the house and don't have the comfort of my husband beside me.

I am tired. The house is full of sick kids and there is no relief in site because Daddy is on a seventy-two-hour shift.

I am jealous. Jealous of all the women whose husbands came home at 5:00 P.M. to have dinner and hold them at the end of their day.

I am worried. I worry that he may not come home one day. This I try to tuck away.

I am content. We have decided to give up my career so I can stay home and raise our children. We no longer have an abundance of money or things. It is the greatest freedom I have ever known.

I am incompetent.There was a time when I considered myself moderately intelligent. I now struggle to remember where I left my car keys, the diaper bag, and, occasionally, the baby.

I am waiting. Knowing the phone may one day ring for me.

I am doubting. Doubting that God hears all my prayers. Doubting I am the kind of wife and mother He needs me to be.

I am trusting. Trusting that my husband will come home again.

I am confident, I am embarrassed, I am lonely, I am surprised, I am overworked, I am underpaid.

I am...The Fireman's Wife.