The Sick Saga

Still sick, but hopefully on path towards wellness. I actually got sent home from work on Tuesday by my manager, who was nervous about (a) getting sick himself and (b) me being too sick to come to work Wednesday, when we have an extremely important meeting with one of our biggest, newest, most sensitive HOAs. So I left after only an hour and a half, which means my paycheck will be docked by around $80, and then went to the urgent care ($100) to get meds ($40). Went home and still felt miserable, so I started hunting around for favors-- anyone who could help me go pick up Ethan and possibly watch him a little bit in the evening. Any takers? Of course not. My sister is still recovering from her throat/nasal surgery and is on meds, and my parents were unreachable (turns out, they'd actually been at the same-day clinic themselves).

So I called my friend, who earlier in the day had told me that she was off work and just sitting around. Unfortunately, when I explained that I was feeling horrid and didn't even know if I could drive out there to the daycare, she said "Oh, no..." and then said that I could drive him over, drop him off for a couple of hours, and then come back and pick him up again later. Um, yeah... except that I can hardly drive over to daycare, let alone jaunt across town to her place and back, twice. Then a few minutes later she said that she'd forgotten about an appointment she had that evening and couldn't watch him after all. So much for friends helping out in your time of need.

In spite of that, I stupidly asked her if she was free on Wednesday evening, and if so could she babysit for two hours while I was at the crucial business meeting. She replied, a few hours later, "I can cancel my plans if you really need me"... which to me is a pretty obvious no. You know, because I didn't make it clear earlier that I did. I told her not to worry about it-- not that I think she did-- and wrote it off as yet another person I can't rely on.

Whatever happened to the days when your friends and neighbors rallied around to help you out, bring food, watch your kids, and just generally give a little bit of time or effort when you were sick or hurting? Guess those days were buried with Rockwell.