Lucky
It's been a tiring couple of weeks. One partner is deliberately trying to keep her stress down by sitting in her office, working on not much, not answering the phones. The other partner is highly annoyed about this and is having trouble concealing her irritation. There's been enough snow that I had to work from home a couple of days. One of the days, Boeing closed so Joe didn't have to work, and amused himself sitting and talking to me while I tried to work.
But. I am so so lucky.
A woman I went to grade school with has that horrible breast cancer gene in her family. Her mom died of it, and several of her sisters have suffered from it. Now her daughter has it. Her 35 year old daughter, who is the mother of two little girls and is also pregnant. Oh my god, I can't even imagine. Daughter has decided to postpone chemo until the baby is born. I can't imagine having to make that choice, and I can't imagine having my daughter go through it. They are the nicest family, this just breaks my heart.
Emily has a job this year running the before and after school care program at our neighborhood school. One of her regulars is a foster child. He's got a lot of behavioral issues. He was living with a family at the beginning of the school year, and that didn't work out, so for awhile he was living in a hotel with a social worker. He got placed with a new family, and I guess that didn't work out either. In Washington they're required to keep the kid in the same school as he moves around, to provide some continuity in his life, so he's still with Emily.
Tonight, no one picked him up. No one noticed, so he came and found Emily, because he knew she'd be there. He hung out with her until 6, and no one came to pick him up. She had to call 911 to come get him. She was so upset. His parents failed him, his foster families have failed him, and now the state is failing him. That poor little boy. He's six years old, and she thinks he's on his ninth placement.
Finally a social worker showed up to get him. He's living with her now, and she got mixed up and thought the program went until 6:30. So I guess it sort of had a happy ending. He didn't have to go hang out at the police station. But can you even imagine?
Suddenly annoying partners and annoying husbands don't seem like quite such a big deal.
But. I am so so lucky.
A woman I went to grade school with has that horrible breast cancer gene in her family. Her mom died of it, and several of her sisters have suffered from it. Now her daughter has it. Her 35 year old daughter, who is the mother of two little girls and is also pregnant. Oh my god, I can't even imagine. Daughter has decided to postpone chemo until the baby is born. I can't imagine having to make that choice, and I can't imagine having my daughter go through it. They are the nicest family, this just breaks my heart.
Emily has a job this year running the before and after school care program at our neighborhood school. One of her regulars is a foster child. He's got a lot of behavioral issues. He was living with a family at the beginning of the school year, and that didn't work out, so for awhile he was living in a hotel with a social worker. He got placed with a new family, and I guess that didn't work out either. In Washington they're required to keep the kid in the same school as he moves around, to provide some continuity in his life, so he's still with Emily.
Tonight, no one picked him up. No one noticed, so he came and found Emily, because he knew she'd be there. He hung out with her until 6, and no one came to pick him up. She had to call 911 to come get him. She was so upset. His parents failed him, his foster families have failed him, and now the state is failing him. That poor little boy. He's six years old, and she thinks he's on his ninth placement.
Finally a social worker showed up to get him. He's living with her now, and she got mixed up and thought the program went until 6:30. So I guess it sort of had a happy ending. He didn't have to go hang out at the police station. But can you even imagine?
Suddenly annoying partners and annoying husbands don't seem like quite such a big deal.
There is so much of this going on that we don't even know about. Perhaps it's best not to find out because it's tragic and depressing. But we do need to count our blessings every day!
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