Laurie Loveman shares her experience going through several years of a divorce and the process of trying to regain the self-assurance and confidence she had before her marriage. It was critical to her future that she accomplish this, and after a brief introduction, Loveman begins her memoir in 1979 when her husband and she determine their best future is not as a couple.
In 1980, a friend's daughter dies in a house fire, and that sets Loveman off on a quest to find out how fire departments operate. Her research takes her from a role as a visitor at the Shaker Heights Ohio Fire Department to becoming a member of the firehouse family. Over the course of the years 1981 through 1983, she is forced, through no-nonsense treatment, to once again become a strong self-sufficient woman.
Along with raising two teenagers, trying to figure out what she's going to do career-wise, and managing a barn full of horses, Loveman confides her fears and frustrations in her horse, Amigo; the one confidante she can depend on to keep what she says to himself.
Her firehouse experiences, marital ups and downs, and her moments with Amigo are interwoven throughout this journal of Loveman's rediscovering herself as her life changes.
Hey Guys, the Redhead's Back! approaches divorce and career changes with an insightful, often playful tone.
About the Author: In 1980 Laurie Loveman and her husband decided to divorce. That same year, her friends lost a daughter to a house fire. Inspired by these events to write a book on the fire service, Loveman spent time at the Shaker Heights Fire department. The book was never written, as her time with firefighters led to her discovering a new career and reclaiming her confidence.
Originally trained in the medical field, Loveman needed a new profession after her divorce, her skills being a decade out-of-date. She enrolled as a distance education student at the University of Cincinnati, earning her bachelor's degree in fire safety and engineering technology.
Loveman retired from full-time service in the Fire Department in 2013 at the rank of lieutenant, but remains active on a part-time basis. Her lifelong love of horses led to an interest in fire safety in barns, more information about which can be found at www.firesafetyinbarns.com.
