You probably think it’s damn near impossible for an at-home dad to call out of work sick. It is the one job that doesn’t afford such luxuries, you might say. You’d be wrong.
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The Mouse already spends her Tuesdays and Thursdays in a Pre-K class. When I need want an extra day as a pretend empty-nester or when I am a nothing more than useless sick slug, as I have been for the past two days, I ring up her school, cross my fingers & toes that they’ve got a spot open in her class to still conform with the required teacher / student ratio, and send her on her merry way.
Today was one of those days and it was an easy sell. Not that Mouse dislikes school, but given the choice she’d pick home with me. Home is, after all, where the iPad lives. That I’m here too is gravy. She needs someone to make her lunch, after all, and read her books at naptime. But Friday was Science Fun Day at school and the promise of wearing old clothes that can get messy while performing a variety of science experiments trumped an iHour or so on the iDevice. Well that, and, I didn’t give her a vote. Screw democracy, I feel like shit.
The Mrs. is away this weekend, having left this morning for an unpleasant family pilgrimage of sorts. I have a post that touches on this a bit, an emotionally gut-wrenching piece that may never see the light of day. I’d need the greenlight from the wifey to share what I’ve included in it.
With her out of town, this isn’t the ideal time for me to be down & out. I called out sick today to get myself back to at least 75%, a functional level, to be able to spend a weekend entertaining and being entertained by the girls, and seeing Robin Hood at the Arden Theater in Philly. Absolutely no one is paying to hear me hock up a lung in Sherwood Forest.
Unlike most corporate sick days, which fall under the category of paid time off, I have to fork over a Grant, a cool $50, for the Mouse to be exposed to other kid’s snot and viruses for an additional day. But that is also $50 spent to make sure she isn’t inhaling my germs. A bargain really.
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