Just When You Need It

                Life hasn’t been the best lately. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, especially when I think of my friends and neighbors who have lost their homes and, in some sad cases, their loved ones to the recent tornadoes. No, it’s just that recently my life simply has been a series of annoying missteps.

                I spent $250 this past weekend getting a sensor fixed in my car. Another $70 went to the locksmith when I locked myself out of said car. And then that $110 the Department of Child Support said would be in my account this past weekend? Not so much. In fact, it’s up to my Ex to be responsible should I see the money at any point in the near future (fat chance). So, that’s $420 I suddenly found myself shorted in the course of five days. When you’re only bringing home $1400 a month, that’s quite the chunk of change. Then, you add in the car insurance, the diapers and food and those little things that I’d not have bought had I known what was just around the corner and, well, I’ve got $20 to my name until the 13^th. Blegh!

                Then, my cousin’s wife informed me that they would have to up the rent on the house I was hoping to rent from them in Kentucky. They had not factored in that their insurance would rise should they rent the house. Of course, I don’t fault them at all. They had offered to rent the place to me at cost which is more than generous so it only made sense that should their costs rise, so would the rent. Unfortunately, it rose out of my comfortable price range which means I’m now back to looking for an apartment. On the plus side, however, I might be able to find of closer to work and school which would cut down on gas.

                As if that weren’t enough, I found out that the school I wanted to put Elijah into has a crazy long waiting list that people camp out for days just to get on. I don’t know about you, but single moms do not have the resources to camp out for a week without some serious juggling. So, scratch that from the list.

                Then, there have been all the phone calls from the Ex. He’s called, I don’t know, five times in the past week, mostly about this blasted child support thing. But every phone call is the same. He yammers on about how this person is stupid or that person is screwing him over or to tell me that he just has so much stuff with his new girlfriend that they can’t possibly fit it all into their apartment. Well, since the sofa, entertainment system, chest of drawers, and bookcases were mine or Elijah’s and I had to leave them there, don’t you think you could keep that sort of thing to yourself? Or, how about the phone call where he called to tell me that the calendar and pictures of Elijah had arrived where he didn’t thank me or, more importantly, didn’t comment about his son at all? Nope, he called to tell me that if I need to send him anything in the future to not forget the apartment number because it’s a hassle for the postman. Seriously????? Today, phone call number five, he finally asked about his son….. at the very end of another long, rambling message. It was literally “Oh, I hope E is doing good.”  And you know what? His call interrupted a nice little conversation I was starting with a rather cute coworker. Bitch.

                So, I raced home today, hoping to get back in time to put Elijah to bed myself. He usually gets to bed between 8 and 8:30. I walked in the door at 8:45.

Then, there’s trying to figure out school (mostly, how am I going to best pull off full time mom, full time student, full time employee for nine months?), the move in general, and all those other little things hardly worth mentioning.  Everything is just another little thing to make my eye twitch; that makes my shoulder seem constantly stiff.

                But today I saw a box with my name on it when I came home. I was surprised and pleased that this package was my only bit of mail (no bills today). I opened it up, wondering who would send me such a thing. Inside the box was a package of six huge, beautiful, delicious chocolate covered strawberries. More importantly, though, was the little note attached from my friend Katie wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day. Needless to say, I cried like a little baby when I squeaked out a bit of gratitude over the phone. It is so good to have such thoughtful friends. Her gift was beyond perfect and wonderfully timed. Thank you, Katie!! Love ya!