My Sailor Man

My hubby Dan works on oil barges. He rides the tug boat that pulls the oil barge back and forth between oil refineries. He kinda fell into this job, and it has taken us on a wild ride. Eight years ago his brother Steve was working on docks as security, and he was talking to a guy who worked the oil barges and this guy told him that they needed help. So Steve told Dan and Dan gave this guy a call. So Dan started working as a shore side tankerman. That means that he would travel to the ports to load and unload the barges. His schedule was insane. He would get a phone call at times asking him how fast he could get to the airport. We would drop everything to race him to Seattle to get on a plane. Other times he would work for 36 hours straight then drive home. We never knew when, where or how long he was working. The barge he was working on got sold, and Dan went with to the new company. This time he rode the tug boat that pulled the barge and was gone for 60 days at a time. Once in awhile he would be in Bellingham, and the kids and I would bring him a burger and visit for an hour. Otherwise, we didn't see him those 60 days. Then the barge got sold again. This time when he went with, his schedule got changed to 40 days on and 40 days off. That company got bought out, so he is with the 4th company in 8 years, but the same barge the whole time. Dan works very hard and is good at his job. He has never had an oil spill and is very careful. His current routine is traveling between ports in Southern California. Yesterday was his 40th day on the boat. He is hoping to get home by the weekend. We never know exactly when he will get home because of tides, loads, refinery schedules, and a million other things that come into play. He had told Lily that he would be home on April 1st, and today she said that Daddy was playing an April Fool's joke on her. (Lily has a mind like an elephant, be careful what you tell her!). So I am waiting for my sailor man to get home. I can't wait to see him and the kids are excited to see him too.