When he was in college Michael was also a volunteer fireman. He rose quickly through the ranks and was well liked. He loved what he did and was great at it, but he did not want to be a fireman forever and after graduation he got hired at his current job.

This was fine with me. While there were some things I enjoyed about him being a fireman (mainly the uniform), the fact that he was running into burning buildings left me feeling nothing short of terrified. There’s actually a photo hanging in the station of him up in the bucket above a burning building. You can barely make him out through the flames. I do not like this picture.

So now he has his career, and while he’s not fighting fires, his job can still be dangerous. Mainly because people are crazy. And crazy people have guns.

Last night I was home alone since he was working over night. I was sitting on the couch when I noticed a van pull up in front of the house. I didn’t think much of it at first since our neighbors always park on the street, making it difficult for people to drive around their car. But the van didn’t move. It sat there for awhile, then drove up the street a little, stopped, backed up and sat in front of the house again. And while I couldn’t make out the driver’s face, I could tell they were straining to see the house, the driveway and the yard. After ten minutes of this I got nervous, wrote down the license plate and called Michael.

Eventually the van drove away and Michael told me to call him if it came back. He also assured me that his coworker was in the area if I needed him.

I sat on the couch rigid and scared the rest of the night. Every time a car would drive by I would grab my phone, ready to call. I finally fell asleep around midnight, only to be woken up by Kodiak barking and growling at 1 a.m. I lay frozen in bed, absolutely terrified that my worst fears were coming true.

“This is it,” I thought, visions of becoming the subject of a Law & Order or CSI episode. 

Obviously nothing happened, as I’m here today writing this. But I’m still a little shaken up. When Michael crawled into bed just after 2 a.m. I held on to him as tightly as I could and incoherently begged him not to leave me.

“I’ll never leave you,” he said stroking my hair.

I was finally able to fall asleep and when I woke up this morning next to the man I love, safe and sound, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.