Life as a Railroad Wife

As a railroad wife, I have learned to never plan any family events more than a day in advance. Even then, things can change. When my husband and I first started dating, he was already working for the railroad as a Conductor. He had a set schedule though. He worked 4 pm-4 am and was off a couple days each week. After we were together about 1 1/2 yrs they mentioned that he may have to be transferred to another location for 6 months to a year. We were asked where we would like to go (out of 6 locations) and we chose Corpus Christi, TX. Four days before Christmas, we were told that he had to be there and report on duty the day after Christmas. SO....they gave us 5 days notice to move!!! That should have been a warning sign there. So I mentioned they said 6 months to a year. Well, 7 yrs later, we are still in TX. We aren't in Corpus Christi anymore though so I guess technically they didn't LIE. While in Corpus Christi, we married. Just to clear that up. :) After those 9 months we lived in the Houston area where we actually were able to stay for a couple of years.

Since being married, my husband bounced back and forth between two locations for 9 months, leaving my daughter and I behind until his location was set. That was tough for all of us. Kiya and I ended up going to MS with our families until he had a permanent location. For 7 months, we lived in two different states. He missed out on hearing her learn to say more and more words and boy was she growing fast. We saw each other once a month during those months. Finally, we moved to Laredo, TX with him. It is the border of Mexico and not a safe area so we stayed away from there as long as we could. After being there with him for 5 weeks, back to Corpus Christi we went for another 9 months. Then, after those months, he was transferred to the Houston area. Geez! Are you confused yet? Me too and I lived it!!! 

Now that we are here settled in a small town outside of Houston, we love it!! We are really hoping to be settled now and that we won't be moved somewhere else. The chance is slim to none so we'll see! Now the things we deal with are him being stuck in a hotel for hours on end and barely being home sometimes. I do really like though that there are those occasions where he is home for a few days in a row. It's just hard with him being on call 24/7 and almost 365 days/year. The only time he isn't on call is when he is on vacation 3 weeks out of the year. Those weeks are nice!! We have no way of making plans when he isn't on vacation. He has a 2 hr call and it takes him almost an hour to get to work so really no way to go do anything more than a few minutes away from home. Though it's a stressful job for the whole family, I am happy that he works for the railroad because we have great benefits and pay. It allows me to be able to stay home with our daughter and I appreciate it so much!!!  I really don't know how military wives do it. It's got to be SUPER tough to be away from your husband for so long and raising kids alone.

Sorry this blog was more complaining than anything. Thanks for reading!