Life with a 3rd Shifter

(I told ya I promised to write more blogs!)

This blog has been on my mind and heart for a while. My husband picked up a third shift job about a year ago. This was a the same time I converted to working from home. It literally turned our schedules upside down. We were two people working 9AM-5PM Monday-Friday for many, many years. We had a routine. We had a schedule. At first, it was an incredibly hard adjustment, but after a lot of trial an error, we finally found something that works for us.

I am incredibly thankful for a husband who works full time to provide for his family. He endures crappy hours for the greater good. Beyond work, he stays determined to stick to his prior commitments outside of his family life. Even more so, I am thankful he has a job he enjoys, and an employer who treats him so well!! They are caring, genuinely interested in their workers, and flexible. You can't find all those qualities in more employers. But don't let me fool you... third shift can still be tough.

The world still goes on. I have a husband who works a 12 hour shift and gets home at 6AM. Need to run errands? Doctor visits? Pay bills? Guess what? He sacrifices sleep to get everyday tasks done. Most places are only open 9-5, so he's forced to meet their schedules. We try to schedule on his days off, but it's not always feasible.

No more family meals on work days. I usually do not get off work until 5PM or later, and with my husband leaving around 5:45PM- there's not much room for dinner together in between. (I mean- unless it's cereal). We used to eat dinner together every day. Now, it's whatever he can grab, and he's out the door.

Adapting to cooking smaller portions. When I try to cook for myself, I have to make smaller portions. I usually still cook for two, so one of us can eat leftovers. I miss cooking full meals, but I just find it silly to cook a big meal for myself.

My husband never knows what day it is. Poor Joe can't remember if it's Thursday or Friday. When you work multiple nights in a row, I would say it's hard to keep track of the days. When it's after midnight, does he say it's still today or tomorrow?!

The misery when someone calls him repeatedly at 11AM, and he's trying to sleep. Would you like someone to call you at 3AM to chat?

Even on his day off, we still operate on different schedules. I still wake up when he's headed to bed.

I believe the hardest thing of all is the amount of time we actually have to see each other throughout the week. Like I said, before we were both home around 6PMish and had the entire night to spend with one another. Now... his two days off seem almost nonexistent. In the blink of an eye, they are over, so we try to take advantage of them the best we can.