Livin Single

My son woke up last night complaining of a belly ache. I asked him what he wanted and he said, “A sandwhich.” LOL! I remembered that he hadn’t eaten much of his dinner.

Then he said his mouth hurt. We stood in the mirror examining it from the inside and the outside but we couldn’t see anything wrong. Then he said his ear hurt. So I sat and rubbed his ear for him. Then he started crying saying his ear was really hurting. I sat with him and massaged the spot just beneath his ear until he fell asleep.

This morning he woke up still complaining of an ear ache and his big brother told me, “I’m sick. I keep couging. I need to see a doctor.”

“I’ll call the doctor,” I told him. “But today you have to go to school.”

I’d love to take both of them to see the doctor but I don’t have the money for the co-pay. Once I even opted to take my son to the emergency room instead because they bill you later. It’s crazy because if they’re gonna be sick for real, they need to be sick NOW and not next week when I start my new job.

It’s so rough being a single mother and trying to work because employers look at you funny when you have kids and they know that you’re the only one there to care for them. I was lucky at my last job, with the exception of a few weird comments, no one made a big deal out of my having to take off work to take care of my sons. But I can understand where the employer is coming from when they are a little cautious about hiring a single mom.

We have to take our kids to doctors appts all the time. We have to handle personal business. Kids get sick. Kids get hurt. Kids act up in school. So even when you get sick, you HATE to use a sick day because you know your kids are going to need it one day. You don’t even go to the doctor for yourself because you know that you need to save the time to take care of them.

With my new job I’m not a salaried employee which may be a good thing (possible overtime)because I have never been hourly since I graduated from college but from my understanding when you miss a day you miss a whole day of pay. I can’t imagine having to choose between taking care of my sick child and paying my bills. That’s going to be a dilemma for sure. And I won’t even THINK about taking business trips with this new position. ~shakes head~ I’ll just have to fight that battle when it comes up.

Call me crazy though. These days when I find myself in a rough situation I sit back and smile. So, right now I don’t have the money to take my kids to see the doctor? Well, we’ll just see how God fixes that! For real, that’s exactly what comes to my mind.

I smile and expect an opportunity to make money or a blessing to be bestowed upon me. Maybe this week one of my articles will sell and I can take them to the doctor on Saturday.

Who knows? But I know that my boys will eat everyday. They will always have clean clothes and they will laugh.

The rough times always precede the joyous times.

Here’s to the joyous days ahead!

God has certainly not forgotten me and my kids…