Do you know where your child is?

Good for you ‘cause I certainly don't most of the time. I mean, I have a general idea sometimes but that's about it.

Da Kid's on duty one day and off the next two unless he's doing a time swap with another firefighter or working overtime either at his station or another one. Then there's his Firefighter II class and I can't keep up with when classes are scheduled, either. And don't forget that he's also volunteering with another fire department, too.

Let me use last week as an example.

Da Kid moved out left for work Monday morning and wouldn't be back until some time Friday. He was on duty that day but since he had school in the afternoon and evening was doing a half-day time swap with another firefighter. Tuesday morning he was swapping time with the same firefighter so that HE could go to school and then that afternoon, Da Kid was doing stuff with the VFD. After that he was heading back to the station because there was no point in coming home since he was working an overtime shift (At one of the stations or maybe it was his own, I dunno!) Wednesday and then, he was on duty Thursday . . . except he had school that afternoon and evening so he was again doing a half-day time swap (involving part of Friday) with another firefighter.

See what I mean?

So, Da Kid arrived home mid-morning Friday, a lot earlier than I'd expected. Right away I'm worried, "Is everything okay?"

Yep. He didn't have to do the Thursday / Friday half-day time swap ‘cause he skipped going to class on Thursday. There was no need for him to go, he'd decided. The entire class was going to be on the different forms and reports he's already filling out, every time he went to work.

The others taking Firefighter II apparently don't have any actual experience outside of the classroom. They were shocked, Da Kid said, to find out being a firefighter also involves doing paperwork. Lots of paperwork. Tons of it.

"I guess they think it's nothing but excitement, running from fire to fire all the time. I told ‘em every time a truck leaves the station, there's at least one or two hours of paperwork waiting for them when they get back."

Considering how much "blue" Da Kid has in his genes from both Hubby's side and mine, maybe he was born to be a firefighter. In any case Da Kid's loving what he's doing.

The best part he said deadpan — the dimples in his cheeks giving him away as they always do when he's faking being completely serious — is driving 80 m.p.h. and running red lights while he's driving a monster-sized truck . . . as people pull over to get the hell out of his way.

I have every confidence he was joking.

I hope.