Creature of the Night

Some time ago, I began posting about our adventure of my husband working the night shift. I realize that I let this go and neglected to continue posting updates. Recently, this season has just come to a close for us and I thought I'd take this opportunity to look back and recap how it went.

The first, unedited thought that comes to my mind is: Basically, working the night shift sucks. Pardon, my stellar eloquence, but sometimes "sucks" is the best word you can use to describe something. ;)

Of course, it didn't all "suck", there were some good parts too. Arvin did get to bond more and play with our daughter in the afternoons when she got out of school. That was special. While he didn't necessarily manage his original plan to be home and make coffee and make the school lunches after work each day, he was able to take Thomas to his 7:30 AM class often, which helped a lot. And the road he helped resurface looks beautiful. It's so smooth and pretty! I am so proud of him and the work that he does and how God helps him do the right thing every single day. He is an excellent provider. Arvin also managed to take advantage of his schedule to make time to go running with the dogs more often, which is a powerful time for him not only for physical conditioning, but spiritual as well. It's good for the dogs too.

Now for the flip side.

One of the reasons that Arvin wanted to do this job was to gain the experience of working in an urban setting. Most of his previous work had been on rural highways and he wanted to learn what it was like to work in town. He also wanted to work close to home since he's mostly had to commute over an hour both ways just to get to previous job sites. And he truly wanted to work locally so that he could give back to his own neighborhood, the place where he calls home. All very noble intentions, I think. Ok, so now he's got this experience under his belt, and let's just say that he's not exactly going to jump up and own begging to volunteer for it again. ;) When you are working up in the mountains "somewhere" you are avoiding something you simply can't avoid in town...PEOPLE. And people like to complain. About everything. Especially road construction. Even people you like, people you love, even people you're related to. Can I just say that people do have very valid complaints, but added up, it can really take a toll on a guy. He's ready to fade into temporary obscurity for awhile and just do his job without so much public scrutiny. (Although, I'm very proud of him. He never lost it once. And look at that road! We can point to it and say "You did that!")

There were a couple of things that happened during the project that just made our hearts skip a beat. Just awful things. For one, there was the call one Saturday morning that a man had a fatal motorcycle crash within the job site. We were on the way to our kids' soccer games when he got the call and Arvin was seriously worried and concerned and upset that this accident was somehow the result of the ongoing road construction. It was a very grave worry for him and his supervisor. After investigation, it was revealed that the motorcyclist involved was speeding excessively, attempted to pop a wheelie and had been under the influence. Such a sad, sad story and a miracle that his was the only life taken. In my opinion, it just goes to show that you cannot legislate around people's foolish choices. You can take precautions and do all the right things, but you cannot prevent stupid. (Remember this is my opinion and does not reflect anyone else's, not my husband's, not the state.) I wish that man did not have to die. I wish he'd made better choices so that he could live to ride again another day.

Another thing that happened was an echo of what I would say would be one of my worst nightmares. A highway worker was struck and critically injured by a motorist. This young man was working for a sub-contractor on a separate job within the parameters of Arvin's job. His crew was set up properly with all the correct safety measures in place. The night they were working, this man was standing on the sidewalk doing his work when a car careened out of nowhere, smashed thought he cones and stuck him! If not for the rapid response of his coworker administering CPR and the response of emergency crews he may have lost his young life. Last I had heard, the man was out of critical condition, but still very serious and his family was moving from the initial panic of "What just happened?" to "What now?" As far as the driver is concerned, I have only heard that she's had "issues" in the past and I do not know what, if any, repercussions she will face as a result of this. I am just shaking my head. I still don't understand. She almost killed a man and yet there is no word on what happened, and why, and weather or not she'll suffer consequences for her actions.

"Slow for the cone zone" indeed! Cones cannot protect highway workers. Neither can hard hats or reflective gear or all the signs in the world. This is a perilous job when the only thing that can save you is the good judgement of a human being! I am passionate about this: When you drive through a construction zone SLOW DOWN!!! THAT IS MY HUSBAND OUT THERE! I love him and I want him to come home! He said he kind of "gets used to the traffic". He said, you take precautions and then you just do your job. Well, I don't know if I can ever just "get used" to it. But thank God, thank God, THANK GOD that no matter what, God is Faithful! He will protect Arvin. He will bring him home. And if not...if someone chooses to booze it up...if someone chooses to do drugs...if someone chooses to speed....if someone chooses to pop a wheelie...if someone chooses to just plow though the cones...MY GOD IS FAITHFUL. In Him I can trust. In Him alone.

On a personal note, this schedule has had an effect as well. At the beginning of this journey we were warned that Arvin would be tired from working at night. I believed it, but I also wondered, "How tired?". I thought it'd be interesting to see since tired seems to be a way of life for the man. He just goes and goes and goes. I am amazed at his work ethic and stamina. But when he's done, he's done. Put a fork in him! Well, turns out that this level of tired brought out something new indeed. And it's name was "Cranky"! Whoooo boy! I won't go into details, and quite frankly it's not important and I don't even want to relive it all, but I can say that I understand. After all, sleep deprivation is a number one tactic in the torture of POW's and I can see why. Someone sleep deprived just isn't thinking clearly and you can't blame a person for not being themselves. I am SOOOOO GLAD that Arvin's night work is OVER. He's awesome and I am ready to have him back! :)

No more sleeping diagonally in the bed! The creature of the night has returned! Let the sun shine in!