A few moments to collect my thoughts...

And now I'll just barf 'em out on the page, shall I?.

Eric, Matt and Bob took off for the coast yesterday afternoon shortly after I left for work. They decided camping for a night would be easier than trying to leave here at midnight for their fishing trip.

I told Eric to go ahead and pay for two nights at the campground even if they decide not to stay a second night so he won't have to pull up the tent and pack all the stuff in the car before the fishing trip. I'm sure if there are any other campers in the campground, they'll appreciate not having to listen to it.

The tuna boat leaves from the dock at 4.

That's a.m.. As in morning. Early morning. As in time-for-all-vampires-to-head-for-bed. Ungodly early morning. Just one more reason to pass on the whole deep sea fishing thing.

::shudder:::

I hope they have a wonderful time. They'll come home tired and probably grumpy, but I want it to be worth it.

Eric has been planning this for ages, and I know how much it means to him. His dad is 71 this year, and who knows how much longer he'll be coming for his annual visit?

It will be worth every cent we spent. I hope. Weather is supposed to be good, they took Dramamine with them... what else is there?

I can't wait to hear from them this evening to find out how it went.

Speaking of how things are going... Lyssa missed school yesterday. No, she's not already skipping classes, but she's been sick since she got home from camp. I sent her for freshman orientation day Tuesday, but she was more ill yesterday morning, so I made the decision to keep her home and took her to see Dr. Tidball, aka Dr. Dirtball.

If you'll bear with a slight digression here (and of course you will, if you weren't willing to meander with me as I repeatedly digress, you would not be reading my blog) I'll explain.

When Lyssa was first learning to read cursive handwriting, I took her with me to a doctor appointment. At the time, our insurance had a co-pay, and I stopped on the way out to write a check at the front desk.

She watched me do it, then started to giggle. She giggled all the way out to the car, and when she finally caught her breath, I asked her what was so funny. She said, "I just think Dr. Dirtball is a funny name!"

I've never mentioned it to the doctor, actually. I suppose I should.

Okay. Anyway. Took her to see the doctor, and since the illness has gone on more than seven days, the doctor said she was going to go ahead and treat it as a bacterial infection and prescribed antibiotics.

I called the school to inform them of Alyssa's absence (and let me digress again here to say how very strange it feels to have to provide an explanation to a total stranger for the whereabouts of my daughter!)
The woman I spoke with yesterday sighed softly, and said, "Well, we'll excuse the absence for today." I know I was not imagining the condescension or the emphasis on the words 'for today' in her voice.

I doubt she even realized how arrogant she sounded.

When Matt was in 1st grade, I went to the school about half an hour before dismissal to get him for a dental appointment. Donna, the office Grinch, aka, school secretary, fixed me with a frosty stare.

After looking at me over the tops of her reading glasses and sniffing, (No shit... she actually SNIFFED at me), she said, "Well. We like you to schedule these things outside school hours. But we'll let you take him this time."

Yeah.
They allowed me to take my son off the premises.
And the high school allowed me to keep my daughter home.

Hmph.

I did find out yesterday afternoon that this high school has a common sense policy toward medication. If it is not a controlled substance, the student can carry the medication with them and self-administer at the appointed time. All that's required of me as a parent is to sign a waiver in the health office saying I give my permission for my daughter to take her medication. This applies to over the counter preparations as well, so I can send something with her for headaches, for example. This works for me, and sounds a lot better than the zero tolerance stuff I've heard (as I'm sure you have, too.)

Okay, off to the shower. I got up at 4. I don't sleep for shit when Eric isn't home. I'm hoping the headache I am getting doesn't turn into anything major.