To Be The Spouse of a Volunteer EMT

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To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means to keep some extra grape juice on hand in case one needs to make Havdalah (culmination ceremony of Shabbat) by one’s self:

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel  means to hear your husband ask another woman when was the last time she had her period:

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means to go to sleep together but not knowing if they will be there when you wake.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means to get up in the morning, hear that a terrorist has snuck into the town that you live in and not know that your husband responded to the incident before the terrorist was neutralized.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you wake up in the morning thinking your spouse has gone to work early when in actuality they responded to an EMS call and has not yet returned.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that while you may have only given birth via caesarean section your husband has been present at a natural birth as the birther.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you have to work quickly to wash their uniform as they may have another yet another call or another shift tonight.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means it is hard to say to one’s self “it will be alright” when in actuality you know better.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means to find purple gloves in the laundry.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means to send SMS or WhatsApp messages to your siblings asking them to read psalms in the middle of the night without telling them why.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that your heart breaks with the amount of worry you have, but there is no one to talk to as your spouse is in the middle of an emergency.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that your spouse gets invited to a thanksgiving meal when he is the reason that the host is alive.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you are thankful twice over that there are no tough stains to get out of the laundry.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you purchase a small box for your spouse’s birthday so that they can squeeze in all of their EMT equipment so that it will not take over your room.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that there will be nights that you will have to wake up in the middle of the night, wait for your husband, and when he returns neither of you will go back to sleep.  

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you need to hide the medical books and journals in the house from the eyes of your curious children.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you invite guests over for Friday night dinner but you are not certain that your spouse will be there.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you understand that a lot of “dealing with the situation” personifies itself in dark humor.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you wake up in the middle of the night from the sound of helicopters, your spouse is not at home, the door isn’t locked, and all that you can do is recite psalms.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you write these lines as a form of therapy.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you need to listen to all that he cannot tell you.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that in the middle of date-night, as rare as they are, your spouse will leave to respond to an emergency.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you wish that there was a WhatsApp group for all of the spouses of the EMTS.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that you need to overlook it when they check their phone on Shabbat.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means that the medical equipment, which your family sent, won’t only be used for your family.

To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means to learn to appreciate your health and the health of those you love much more than ever before.

But most importantly: To be the spouse of a volunteer EMT in Israel means to be flexible, strong, loving, understanding the need to do certain things by yourself and being prepared to do them, and to support the incredible self-sacrifice, generosity, and loving-kindness that are associated with emergency life-saving. It is never easy, but I am incredibly proud of my spouse.

Dedicated with the utmost amount of respect to all of the spouses of our 3,200 volunteer EMTs who are on call 24/7/365

  • Written by the spouse of a volunteer EMT of United Hatzalah of Israel and reprinted with their permission.