I'm home today. My daughter has strep. This will be the third full day at home in a week. I'm just not destined to have a paycheck. Last week I was absent from work (with creepy crud of my own) for two and a half days. This week, it's my children's turn to have the crud. It's only fair I suppose.

I'm not a single parent. I have been with my husband since 1993, so I'm very spoiled when it comes to having help. In the past, Rick worked and I stayed home with the babies, but last year, Rick was going through some early mid-life thing and started a lawn service and I worked here, at the Tribune. Life was excellent. Rick was doing what he liked and I was doing what I liked. Rick could take care of the kids when they were sick, pick them up from school, take them to their appointments.... you get the picture. The kids were covered! Now Rick has taken a different job. And this job is in Illinois at this point in time. Kids are no longer covered. Mom no longer gets any help. How in the world do single parents do it?

I have a new found respect for the single parent. I am just about nuts trying to take care of everything that needs to be taken care of! Yes, I'm whining because YES I'm spoiled! I admit it.

Yesterday when I got off work, I went to Chris's house to pick up my girls. Chris told me that Kristyn (oldest daughter) had a really bad headache. Kristyn gets headaches from time to time, but she comes by it honestly. She comes from a long, long line of "headache-getters". So I gave her some ibuprofen and drove to Walgreen's to pick up a prescription. Ten minutes later I was pulling into our garage when Kristyn bolted from the door and ran into the house and got sick. Her headache was migraine bound. She only gets migraines about two or three times a year, but I knew exactly what I had to do. It was time for the medicine that only the doctor can give. So back in the car we go and we head out to Urgent Care. The nurse practitioner gave Kristyn some major meds and she started feeling better rather quickly. Just when I thought everything was going to be fine, the nurse practitioner told me that kids were complaining of headaches when they were testing positive for strep. So she tested Kristyn and she came back 15 minutes later with the lab results and sure enough... POSITIVE. I asked this nice lady if Kristyn could go to school tomorrow since she wasn't physically sick, had no fever or sore throat. Nope. Out of school for 24 hours while on antibiotics. Ugh. I totally understand why she can't go to school, but again... ugh.

(KEEP THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND FOLKS... KIDS GET A HEADACHE, TEST FOR STREP, IT'S SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE HERE IN FORT SCOTT!)

So I find myself wondering, how in the world do single parents get everything done and still have sanity. I miss a few days of work and I'm totally panicked! How do you do school, work, doctor, pharmacy, homework, dinner, laundry, bath time, snuggle time, playtime? My girls are older (10 and 11) so my part isn't nearly as bad as those with newborns or toddlers. Right now all I can think about are my deadlines and how I'm not going to have nearly enough time to meet them and Taralynne's needs. Taralynne is my youngest girl and she's next in line for crud. Let's hope her immune system is working overtime because I can't afford to keep missing work and my girls can't handle a crazy mom right now with dad gone.

Ok, I'm going to suck it up and stop my whining and just deal with it. It's all I can do. But let me tell you, I will never look at a single parent the same way again. The respect I have for these folks is out of this world. Kudos to you!