If you’re a firefighter, have you ever felt isolated from those friends and family members who aren’t firefighters? I never realized how different I was until I retired and wasn’t around as many firefighters. I would anxiously wait until some of my firefighter friends showed up for a visit. Being around my firefighter friends made me feel “normal” again. Otherwise I was around people my age who were retired but had led very different lives than me. This story is about how we cope, how we survive and how we thrive… and as I’ve often said, this job is not for everyone. Be safe.