I'm Calling In "Sick"

I'm a commitment girl. If I commit to something, you better believe I am there, regularly, and on time. So you may wonder what "calling in sick" has to do with a commitment girl. Well, I remember a long time ago, my Grandma Mary said that you should "call in sick" every now and then. I remember thinking it was quite the scandalous thing for my Grandma to say because I could never picture her as the type to do such a thing. She was divorced after 6 years of marriage and took care of herself, two boys and two brothers the whole early part of her life. One of her brothers had down syndrome. She took care of him until his death. The other brother had one lung and couldn't work (something about TB? I don't remember the details). She also took care of him until he died. Anyway, she was a single, working mom and never remarried. Instead, when her boys were grown and out of the house, she continued to dedicate her life to helping others...especially my mom and her six kids. She was our idol, our bright ray of sunshine in my mom's overworked, overwhelmed and hopeless days. She would bring over dinner, lots of sweets for us kids and helped my mom clean the house. We loved her so much.

This statement my Grandma made about calling in sick, came as a surprise to me. I was working two jobs in the summer and maybe she was worried. Maybe she wished she would have called in sick more. I grew up with dependability shown all around me. I never thought about calling in sick unless I was really sick. I was always extremely dependable on the job. I never wanted to burn any bridges and I always was a pleaser. I came in on snow days when few people showed up. I stayed late when they wanted me to and came in on unscheduled days if they were short. Even in my school days, I often had perfect attendance. I was the model employee.

I can say that I still have that work ethic, even with outside commitments. Lately, with CRHP, PTO and Women's Group, I've been the model employee. But the craziness factor has stepped up a bit with the back to school preparing, as well as the extra work required for our basement remodeling. I attended a lot of meetings and had my mind wrapped up in all my ideas for the new school year and managed to juggle whatever work was needed for the basement. Our past weekends have been spent painting, installing baseboards and doors, and cleaning up to prepare for carpeting. I was feeling like our quality of life was neglected while we attended to all of our duties. And I feel like our kids were left to their own devices. Which is sometimes necessary but sometimes too much.

Last Sunday night, I got home late from CRHP. We had just finished a crazy weekend with both days filled with working on the basement. Ted and I were looking at the calendar. Monday night was Women's Group and Tuesday and Wednesday were back to school functions. Ted was not looking forward to the week. I never miss a Women's Group meeting if I can help it. Monday nights are sacred. Ted knows that. He would never suggest it. But I felt like something needed to give. So I told him I would skip Women's Group. I would "call in sick". He looked at me like I had offered him a day of golf. He knew what I was giving. I think he was touched. "Wow...that would be great". I reasoned how I never miss and that this would be a good time as any...before we get into our new book next meeting.

The next day, instead of rushing out the door as soon as he walked in, I ordered out pizza and we ate a meal together. Everyone was happy. That was enough for Ted, he encouraged me to go ahead to Women's group. Abby was sick and we wouldn't be able to do anything as a family anyway. So I actually went to Women's Group, but showed up late. I think it was enough for Ted that I showed him I was willing to sacrifice it for family time.

Last night, we were doing our nightly touching base when we realized we had not spent much time as a family. Saturday was another day of basement final touches because we had to meet the carpet install deadline of Monday. I started thinking about how nice it would be to go to the park in the early evening. I was hungering for family time, but I was restricted by the 7pm start time of my CRHP meeting. I pulled out my CRHP calendar and noticed that this meeting would be a good one to skip. I had not missed a meeting and felt that it would be fine to miss just one. I told Ted. He was thrilled. I called our Lay Director and told her it's been crazy around our house and we needed some family time. Who can argue with that? I'm amazed at how often the simple truth works. I don't think I could have gotten away with that call in excuse on a job, but it works for many extra-curricular activities. Many people would not dare to touch the "putting family first" reasoning.

Today, we had a great time! I took Sam, Abby and Ben to Pizza Street and then to a movie "Zoom" (don't recommend it, but the kids liked it so I guess that's all that matters). We came back, I napped for about 40 minutes (I was exhausted from a couple of bad nights of sleep) and then we packed up and headed for the park. We picked up Burger King on the way and ate under the pavilion. Sam and Abby rode their bikes and we pushed Ben and Mary in the stroller. We threw rocks in the lake and finished the evening at the playground. It was so much fun. I've missed times like these. It's been too hot to do anything outside and today was beautiful. I'm looking forward to the cooler days of fall and more time spent outdoors.

All of this happened because I called in sick. I'm so glad my Grandma reminded me it was a good thing to do every now and then. I'm sure she's looking down from heaven and chuckling with her merry eyes the way she always used to. However, I'm a little worried that we're liking it a little too much. Ted is going to skip Men's Group tomorrow night. But, our carpet is being installed tomorrow! We can't wait to put everything back in the room!

I've been happy to use the call in sick card, but I have to say, it's best to save it for when you really need it. I was able to enjoy it because I felt guilt free knowing that I show up most of the time. And I've got this wonderful high from our trip to the park that I'm dying to do it again. Go to the park, that is.