J took a sick day today! He was at his dad's last night, and this morning he woke up super-early with a fever and a cough. His dad stayed with him until about 9, and then The Girlfriend stayed with him the rest of the day. How nice was that? I just can't believe we had someone to pinch-hit for us. When I picked him up after work he was all perky again and just has a bit of a cough.

This is the nastiest part of being a parent with a full-time paying job . . . my child gets sick and I'm really needed in the office that day, because it's the second business day of the month and we have annoying snafus with wires and paperwork and what-not. What am I supposed to do if I don't have someone who can stay with him (which is normally the case with us)? Wouldn't it be nice if my company had some kind of sick-child care for when kids are too sick to be in regular school but not so sick that they're bedridden? Like a little infirmary with cots and videos and juice and a capable caregiver, downstairs where I could pop in and see him periodically but not lose my job for leaving my department in the lurch at a crucial moment? Yah, sure, in my dreams.

On days like this I get really worried. On the one hand, I tell myself I should just relax because, fer cryin' out loud, the world will not end if I have to be out of the office at some critical juncture, and if people can't understand that my first responsibility is to my child, then to heck with them. On the other hand, I still worry a little because I do need my paycheck and my health insurance. And on the other other hand, I feel like a miserable parent because I'm not with my child.

Bah.

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