I have been dating a fireman for five months now. It has been amazing, but it is not what someone would expect. I thought I would know what is happening and how things would be, but I most definitely did not.

I have known my boyfriend my entire life; our parents knew each other before we were born, my parents babysat him, and we went to school together from elementary school all through high school. He and I talked but ran in different social groups. He was this jock who was the best baseball player at our school, and I was the nerd who did his homework. After we both graduated, he went on to get a full-time job at a fire department and is now in paramedic school, and I went on to attend Miami University.

Everything I thought I knew about firemen and the fire department was completely wrong.

I mean, they don't even have fire poles they slide down, just steps. I have learned a lot in the last five months. There are things I didn't know, like the chain of command, what is allowed at the station, or that they rotate who does what job at the station. I also learned what it feels like to be a first responder's girlfriend. I never thought I could sit and worry so much about a person on a regular basis.

My boyfriend works 24 hours on shift and then he gets 48 hours off. Every 24 hours that he is on shift, I sit at home and worry constantly. I sit at home knowing my boyfriend is running into burning buildings and that he won't be able to tell me if he is OK or what is going on until he is getting ready for bed and can make a three-minute FaceTime call. Usually on this FaceTime call he looks absolutely exhausted and like he is just about to fall into bed, fast asleep.

He loves his job, though, and never misses a day.

I, on the other hand, sit at home trying to keep myself busy all day doing homework so I don't have to think about the fact that he is literally running into burning buildings that could collapse on him at any second.

My boyfriend is also in paramedic school. This means two days a week, he is in class so he can only talk for 15 minutes during lunch. This also means he is constantly studying. I mean constantly, non-stop, at dinner, during truck rides, and even before he goes to bed. I have studied with him so much I am pretty sure I could be a paramedic by the time he graduates.

With all this being said, I love my boyfriend and I wouldn't trade him for the world, even if dating him means I will be constantly worried every third day.

But he loves his job, and I love him, so I love his job also. I am so happy he and I are together, and I wouldn't trade anything he and I go through for anything. He has taught me so much, and I cannot wait to continue learning new things every day with him.

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