The Nest — #spouse

Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to first appreciate your spouse, celebrate what they mean to you, and to thank them for the day-to-day support and sacrifices they make on behalf of your family. It is also an opportunity to reintroduce romance back into your life. It comes in at a good time of year, when life has settled in for a long winter’s nap, the momentum of New Year resolutions has waned and it still looks pretty bleak outside. Valentine’s Day can a little color, a little romance, and a little kick into your relationship. Here are five ideas...

Growing up, I could never have imagined that I would one day be married to a walking badge in polyester black. No, the silly games I played pointed to my future husband as a banker or a doctor, someone who made a decent living working a “normal” job like everyone else. I guess I wore those same rose-colored glasses as I imagined and planned out dinners at 5:00 PM each day, holidays with family gatherings, spur-of-the-moment get-a-ways, sleeping blissfully in my lover’s arms at night without a care in the world, and a “Better Homes and Gardens” type boudoir with...

Please note that this truth is written from a females perspective, but applies to both male and female Firefighter spouses/fiance's. By Kym Harper Styers Dear Future Fireman's Girlfriends and Wives, I am going to lay out some truth for you. It's harsh, but honest. I wish someone would have said this to me 18 years ago when I became one.  One misconception I had was the sexiness of the job. That turnout gear is something isn't it? Makes a girls heart melt. Nothing like seeing your man all decked out looking like he's about to pose as Mr. July in...

1. Holidays and family gatherings are spent by yourself. After all: Holidays are some of the busiest times for the men and women in blue. As celebrators skirt from family to family, whisking wheels too-fast over new snow, police officers attempt to quell the chaos. You have the soul-warming food, sure; the endless and intimate family conversation; but you don’t have your partner. Which makes any holiday just a little bit empty. 2. The other husbands and wives on the force become your second family. They live with the same day-to-day fears; their bed is just as empty as yours; and they’re...

Once the glamour wears off, and reality sets in, it's not for everyone. You have to be able to deal with the long hours away from home, the midnight pager wakeup calls and the reality that your spouse may not come home from a shift or a call. Facebook fans were asked to share some struggles they've encountered in their firefighter marriages. Read the responses below. And remember, as tough as it is, spouse support means everything. Trust as a female firefighter in a new relationship. It’s hard to explain to the new boyfriend the closeness between me and my fellow...