The Railroad Life

The daily life of a railroad wife. Recently I googled railroad wife and was surprised by the sites that came up. Some blogs, some "support groups", even a facebook page. When you work as a conductor/engineer for the railroad you are on call 24/7, you don't get holidays off nor holiday pay. Its a great job don't get me wrong but like most good jobs it comes with its down falls. You live by your phone and how many times out you are, you don't make plans, you miss birthdays, cook outs even the occasional Christmas or Thanksgiving. There are weeks you spend more time in crappy hotel beds than in your own. You get little to no sleep because if you sleep the time you are supposed to you miss out on all your family time home. When you are married to a conductor/engineer for the railroad you deal with all these things just on the other side. You do alot of things without your spouse and answer the question, "wheres Eric?" way to much. If something is going to go wrong it almost always happens when Eric is out of town so you learn to just handle it. You learn railroad lingo, I know what DH stands for, I can tell you what a Z train is, I know what a EOT is and the list goes on. I have a love-hate relationship with the railroad. To them my husband is a number not a person but the railroad has allowed us to build a house and allowed me to work part time so I can be home with our daughter. I am so grateful that Eric can do this job because its not for everyone. Its hard work mentally and sometimes physically. It's not for every wife either and some days are harder than others but at the end of the day its our life and I thank God everyday that he continues to bless us with the ability to make it work.