We moved to St. Joseph over 4 years ago. In the beginning, I did not know anyone. All my friends were back home (okay...I had, like, four). Ella was a baby, and it was winter. The fact that Brady was "on-call" every 6 weeks didn't bother me so much. I had no social calendar, and we worked trips back home around his work schedule.
Over these last 4 years, his company has had employees come and go. It's great when they get a new employee - it takes some of the work off of Brady, and he actually makes it home for dinner at a decent time. What isn't so great, is how much this change in employees alters his "on-call" schedule.
He went from being on-call every 6 weeks (one week as a back-up, one week as a primary) to being on call every 4 weeks. Then it went back to every 5 weeks, but he was the primary person for two-week periods. I don't even know how many times things have changed. If one of the guys wants to go on vacation, they can trade on-call with someone, which means that he could be on-call for 3 weeks in a row. Right now, I think, he is on call every 2 weeks. One week as primary, and one week as backup. But I could be wrong.
I am trying to have a social life. I want to do things with my new-found friends down here. I want to schedule meetups and go for moms' nights out. However, my husband's crazy work schedule is ruining my chances of doing these things. I've stopped asking him what the new on-call schedule is....his answer is always the same, "I don't fucking know."
Why don't I just get a baby-sitter, you ask? Let me tell you. Just because he's on-call doesn't mean he'll be called out. So why would I pay a baby-sitter to come to my home to watch my kids, when their dad is right there. So what if I leave the kids at home with him while he is on call? If he gets called out, he needs to leave ASAP. The chances of getting a sitter over here in 20 minutes is impossible - teens these days have crazy, busy lives.
I have ventured out of the house by myself while he was on call a few times. Each time, I am only 15 minutes away, and my cell phone is always in my pocket on vibrate. I am the one "on-call," and I'm not getting paid for it.
Verizon Wireless is killing my attempt to be social.
1 comment:
What if you get an "on-call" babysitter? Someone, adult or teenager, who you could set up for a specific night to be 'on-call' to come over w/ 15 minutes notice if needed and you pay her like a set amount to just be available on "this night for this time period"? Just a thought. I know its a rough situation, hang in there.
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