dreams and stuff

I noticed lately that our blog posts are more pictures than words. My thoughts are that it is because neither DJ nor I fancy ourselves as writers and it is not something we jump up and down about doing every day. Usually one of us suggests a topic and we mull over it and at the last minute come up with something. It almost always relates to a situation we are currently experiencing. Noticing that lately our blog is filled with photos reminded me of something I think speaks to our marriage: supporting each other’s dreams. Many moons ago-14 months to be exact- DJ came to me with something really important he wanted to discuss. I had been away for a few days and he said my brief absence lead him to decide to not return to firefighting, a job he liked and was great at. He said he wanted to pursue nursing, as he always had an interest in that, and it was a more family friendly profession. He was worried about how I would react as it meant him going back to school and not having the financial stability he currently had. I told him to go for it. Inwardly I was relieved that he was choosing a different profession because I knew the challenges we would face if he stayed in firefighting. Fast forward several months later, we are fresh on the marriage train and I tell him that I don’t want to pursue my master’s in social work after all. I had been accepted into a good university and was supposed to begin classes in August of 2010 but that interfered with our trip to Africa so I deferred to 2011. When we came back from Africa I realized that: A) I don’t need a master’s degree to help people in third world countries & B) I really don’t want to rack up more student loan debt right now. So I told him I would follow him wherever he wants to go in nursing, as long as I can do photography in some capacity because I really enjoy it. He was supportive. He let me buy my camera and he tolerates being my paparazzi victim, which I'm very thankful for. In fact I got some nice shots of him cooking dinner tonight, and I know he wanted to throw a piece of chicken at me but he refrained. 
~Mrs. p


It's pretty amazing how plans can change as often as P Diddy changes names. I had my next 5 years planned out with my firefighting career, and making a good name for myself in the battalion. Falling for Danielle made me reanalyze my goals to not only be best for me, but I wanted to set up my family for success. I'm sure one could guess, but the divorce rate for firefighters is rather high, and it's not the most stable home for raising children so I made a rough choice. So after one our first hard talks, we decided that it would be worth a few rough years for me to go back to school and come out with a degree that will provide for the family and allow me to be the best husband and father that I can possibly be. So now I'm back to school but its painfully apparent that not much has changed since I left school, because all the cool kids still sit away from me. I was pretty shocked when Danielle came to me saying that she was considering not doing her masters program and after another plan changing conversation our plans divert again. Do I miss firefighting? Heck yes at times, but I missed Danielle SO much more when I was gone. Will our plans change again? Most assuredly, and we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Has it all been worth it? Absolutely and I don't regret my decision at all.
~Mr. P