I have written before about the struggles of married “single parenthood”. This phenomenon in my own adoptive family is part of the reason why I dropped off the grid last week. I might be in and out, depending upon the medical results I get right after the holidays … but that is another story that I will wait to share if there is anything to share. I am hoping that this is a false alarm.

My sister graduated from college last weekend. She went from a being ninth grade dropout to an honors graduate with a double-major. Her story is so impressive that the president of the university mentioned her by name and shared her story in his commencement address. Very cool!

I left my adopted child at home with his father because my mother/abuser was in attendance, and I don’t want that woman anywhere near my kid. That meant that hub had to parent our son for most of the weekend.

One friend kept our son for a few hours after school on Friday, and another friend kept him for seven hours on Saturday. Neither friend had any issues. However, hub was on his own on Friday night and then Saturday night until I returned home on Sunday (ETA 4:00 p.m.).

Those of you who live in the South probably noticed how foggy it was on Sunday, 12/13, and Monday, 12/14. There was such as heavy blanket of fog covering the Southeast that my flight was canceled, and I could not get another flight out of my sister’s tiny college town until Tuesday. So, my sister drove me two hours to a larger airport, where I could fly out in the morning. That plane was delayed, causing me to miss my connection, and I barely made it home on time (squeaking by on standby) to pick up my son from school. (Hub dropped him off at school and left town for a business meeting.)

The weekend was a nightmare all around. My son’s asthma was flaring up when I left, and hub gave him the wrong inhaler for a coughing fit during the night, which (1) did nothing to help the immediate issue; and (2) overmedicated my son on inhaled corticosteroids. Hub dropped our son off at school without a book bag or lunch. (Thank goodness grandpa was in town to run it out to my son.) Hub couldn’t figure out how to assemble the humidifier to help relieve my son’s cold symptoms (which is what triggered the asthma).

Meanwhile, hub was sick and in a complete panic about preparing for his business meeting. He gave our son the wrong nighttime medicine, so our son would not fall asleep. I got a frantic call at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday night from hub completely freaking out because our son would not sleep, and hub had to finish preparing for this meeting. I reminded him that I could not fly out until the morning, was 11 hours away by car and ever farther by foot. He was going to have to figure this out.

When I picked up our son from school (thankfully on time), he said that he wanted hub to go out of town for a long time (and got his wish – it was a three-day business trip). He said that hub did nothing but “fuss” at him all weekend. Both have told me that it was a weekend of an out-of-control child combined with a yelling out-of-his-element parent. This tells me that my medical results must be okay because clearly hub cannot parent this child on his own.

Bottom line – I will not be leaving town without my child again unless I have friends committed to cover every minute of my absence.

Photo credit: Lynda Bernhardt