Well, you guys… it’s been intense ever since I got out of the hospital. When I discharged, I came home to find my turtle gravely ill. He’s pulled through and made a full recovery due to the most amazing veterinarian ever. However, it did require five trips to the vet in the first two weeks after I got home. My brother and Nationwide were super helpful there financially, but I was stressed for sure. I did manage to get my cat from North Carolina, which has been a huge help. But between both my dependents and my own post-hospital appointments, I was missing a lot of work. This did not go over well with my boss, who was already on the fence about me being on FMLA twice. Legally she couldn’t do much, but I do feel like she did what she could to get me out of there. Which, I have a pathological fear of authority that has lost me pretty much every job I’ve ever had, so getting me out the door wasn’t too hard. Then, between not having my job anymore, not having a therapist, and Thanksgiving, I went into a really deep depressive episode. I was supposed to start therapy a couple of weeks ago but the woman no-showed for the intake and then wouldn’t respond to any of my calls or emails. Thankfully, I do have supports and they came through for me. Once I got eating and sleeping under control, I was able to realize that I finally had time to unpack for the first time after moving in June! So I made the most of it. 😊 For those who are probably wondering, yes I did have another job lined up when I quit the old one: I’m going to be a substitute teacher in the same city where I live. Which means the commute will be much easier, plus the daily rate is twice what I was making as an infant teacher. I’m sad in a way because cuddling babies was awesome for my mental health, but commuting two hours each way (mostly on foot) just to get paid essentially minimum wage wasn’t working out for me. Now I have basically the only per diem job that exists in education. I plan on working as much as I can, but I’m happy that I won’t have to be dealing with my boss stressing out every time I have an appointment.
Anyway, check out my place!! It needs furniture, obviously, but I’m truly over the moon about how it’s coming along. I’ve been through a lot in the past ten years and finally having an actual apartment is a dream come true.
