Heroes and Husbands

   I read a lot of Inspirational Romance books, and I am getting really tired of the wimpy, angst-ridden men in these books. I keep saying, "Can't they write something about a hero who is not afraid to step up and do the right thing without all the reluctance to love and risk?" That made me want to write something on here about my husband, Andy, who is a true hero.
   Early in our marriage, Andy worked at the fire department in Wilmington (eight years). and he was gone 24 hours at a time. then he worked a few months as an insurance salesman, and was gone all the time. Next he went to work for CP&L at the Sutton Plant, and for a few years he worked a decent schedule most of the time. Of course when they had outages, he worked 12 hour days. Then he transferred to their traveling crew, and he was gone weeks at a time, working 6 or 7 12's a week. He did this for years, and it was very hard for all of us, but we, the kids and I, still had our lives; Andy just worked. He did not have a problem doing what needed to be done to provide for his family. I am afraid that a lot of men today would not work like that; I have seen too many who left rather than work that hard. When he transferred to the nuclear plant in Southport, he worked a lot of 60 to 72 hour weeks; I can remember one three or four month period when he only had one day off, and he worked 12 hours every day. He missed most of the special times that we had with the kids and family, but he didn't complain. As he would say, he did what needed to be done to get the coon. I am so glad that in the last 15 years he has had time to relax and do some things that he wanted to do, rather than work all the time. I believe that Andy is a true hero, and I love and appreciate him with all my heart.
Blessings,
Janis