Sick Day

Now, before you get all "Oh, poor Dasi! She's not feeling well!" let me remind you that I am a single mom. Therefore, as all single moms know, a "sick day" NEVER means that you yourself are sick. Oh, no. We do not get the luxury of staying home when WE are sick. When a single mom gets sick, she drags her pathetic butt into work and graciously passes her disease on to all her fellow coworkers. Because we know that sick days must be reserved for the all important royalty of the household - our kids.

Last night Lexie came home from her friend's house and said she had a sore throat. A little alarm went off in my head since she just got a note sent home from school last week saying there had been a case of strep in her classroom. But I crossed my fingers and turned up the humidifier at bedtime, hoping for the best. No such luck. This morning, along with the sore throat, she also had a stomach ache and a fever, so we went to the doctor. Rapid strep test came back positive, so she's on penicillin and off school tomorrow as well.

Ok, so I have to admit, sometimes it's kind of nice staying home when I'M not sick, because then I can just lounge around and watch tv and pretty much do nothing except mother my child. But then again, I know that using this time severely limits my future days off opportunities. For example, taking these two days off still leaves me with seven available days to use between now and June, which is actually pretty good. A little more than a day a month, according to my calculations. But the problem is, I have already requested December 22 off (well, ok, I requested it off in my mind and haven't actually asked Satan yet) because I am watching a friend's 3 kids that day since her husband will be watching Lexie for three days during winter break. And I just KNOW that when I DO ask Satan for that day off, he will give me the Evil Eye and imply that I have NO RIGHT to ask for another day off since I just took two other days. Even though Lexie was sick. But I will have to explain that I ABSOLUTELY MUST have that day off, or I will not be able to expect these people to watch Lex for three days if I can't hold up my end of the bargain.

You see, Satan fooled me when he hired me. He acted all "good dad" and interested in Lexie. He actually has a son a year older than Lexie, so you think he would be more understanding. Ummm... NOT!! This is because Mrs. Satan is a stay-at-home mom, so he doesn't quite grasp the concept of single-parenting. If Lexie has some school thingy during the work day, do I get to go? HELL NO. Not unless I, say, give up my 1/2 hour lunch for a week. If Lexie is sick past my allotted sick day time, I get lectured about going over said sick time. On the flip side, if I dare to use like three days in my first month of my "vacation time year," I get the old "Are you SURE you should be using so much time so early? What if your daughter gets SICK?" Of course, he takes two three week vacations with his family a year, coaches soccer and leaves early every Wednesday and Friday in the spring and summer, and also pads holidays by a few days. Oh, and? Like last Thursday when we got the first "big snow" of the season RIGHT before rush hour? He left at 3:30 (obviously expecting myself, M, and the other attorney to stay) while commenting "I'm going home before the roads get too bad." Thanks, Satan.

Ok, here's the thing, I REALIZE he busted his butt to get where he is today and to have his own office, but a little compassion and understanding go a LONG way. I don't expect him to look the other way if someone is taking advantage of vacation or sick time, and I don't expect him to let me leave early every week for some school thingy. But I DO expect him to be a bit less condescending. After all, I am a grown woman, and he isn't all that much older than me.

Ok, done venting. Have to go make some soup for my strep-y little girl now. It's times like this I wish I had published a book or something. J.K. Rowling had the right idea - she is my Single-Mom Role Model (even though she's married now). Since I'll be caretaking tomorrow as well, hopefully I'll have time to write on a different subject: one I've been lax in. Won't tell you any more, don't want to get you TOO excited...

Stay healthy, everyone!