Second Shift

So, I'm stuck here on second shift for another couple of weeks. The hours are 4:30 until 1:00 AM. Being a former country boy, it goes against my other 56 years of experience. When you have gotten up early (5:30) for over 50 years, your body resists this radical of a change. Right now I should be unwinding from a day's work and relaxing after dinner. Instead, I have just barely gotten in to the work shift. My body is SO CONFUSED!

The people that adjust to this shift love it. I was talking to Ralph earlier, and he said he always prefers second. He said that the idea of starting off his day with a loud annoying ringing in his ears was not the way he preferred to start his day. I am no great friend of the alarm clock, and he certainly has a point. I mean it is nice to just wake up when you wake up, with no fretting about the alarm.

The major problem with being on second shift is I hardly ever get to be with my wife. Carol works days, so she gets up at 5:30. I don't get home until around 1:30, so by the time I unwind and get to bed it is usually around 3:00. I leave for work at 4:00, she gets off at 4:45. The only time we see each other is Saturday and Sunday, and even then out schedules dont mesh.

I guess if you have been married for like 20 years, it would be OK, in fact might even be a good thing, but the fact is that Carol and I are coming up on our second aniversary, so we are still newlyweds. We have gone through a hell of a lot in those two years, but we are still getting used to each other, and I would really like to be there to support her when things go wrong.

Shipside support is like I heard flying an SR-71 described "Extended periods of boredom interrupted by short periods of complete panic." Either I am looking for something to do, or I am running around like my hair was on fire.

Well, break time is over, so I had better stop blogging and start slogging.