Support Systems

I've never realized how important it is to have a support system near where you live until this past year.  Family, friends, etc...   It's good to have these people near you.  The reason I say this, is that my family has no support sytem.  Both sets of our parents live over 10 hours away and brothers and sisters are a good 6-8 hours away.

So, when something comes up, where it would be good to have a family member near, it's a good thing.

I was scheduled for Jury Duty today.  However, I've been sick all weekend and this morning, our daughter woke up extremely sick.  My wife couldn't take the day off as her school was in the process of doing bench-mark testing.

So, that left me in a quandry.  What to do?  Well, the answer was simple.  I take care of my child, which I did.  I was finally able to get ahold of the Court Clerks, and they gave me an "excused" for this time, but I only get one.

But what sucks, is that for the past 7 years, I've used every sick, personal, and vacation day available to me.  Every single one.  Why?  Because up until this year, my wife has never held a job that provided sick days or any type of day off.

So when she got sick, or my daughter got sick, I was the one who took the time off to take care of them.  I'd say that over 50% of those days combined was used to take care of my family.  This is why a support system is so crucial.  If we had had one in near us, I probably wouldn't have had to take so much time off.

Unfortunately, I did have to take that time off, and it was noticed by my boss, and he clocked me on it a couple of months ago.  I understand where he's coming from, but at the same time, I'll do whatever it takes to take care of my family.  My family comes first and foremost.  I just hope that my use of time-off doesn't forcast into any bonus or merit raise for this coming year, or worse, being laid-off.