What did I do to deserve THIS?

The weekend was tough. I was sick - cough, cold, fever. The whole enchilada. For the first time in my life I wished we could ask someone to come over and take care of the baby so both J and I could rest a little. But J soldiered on, let me rest through the fever and by Sunday evening I was back on my feet. Even managed to clean the first level of the house! Dusting, sweeping of the floors - everything!! There is something about Monday morning deadlines that forces a person to shape up :D

Tuesday morning couldn't have gotten any more crappier for me. M had a appointment with her pediatrician for the 9 month checkup and she was supposed to get her shots. J was supposed to take her but at the last minute an emergency arose for him at work. I had an urgent meeting but his emergency trumped my urgency so I had to take M to the doctor's. Wasn't a big deal though - just had to email my boss that I'll be in late. That is the thing about such situations - you feel more guilty when everybody understands the situation you are in and doesn't say anything. Anyway. What do we learn when we get to the doctor's? That despite being on her THIRD round of antibiotics (Amox, Augmentin, now Vantin - I didn't know there WERE so many antibiotics :P) for SIX days, M still has an infection in her right ear. So now we are going to see an ENT specialist and see what he says.

But this is SO not the point of this post. When I got to my office, I popped in my boss' office and said "Sorry for the short notice" and what does he say? "No problem. Don't worry about it".

Then I bumped into Tharini from Winkiesway on Googletalk. Her reassuring words were like a soothing balm. She offered to send some Saibaba bhabhooti for M. Now I don't believe in all this, but I sure recognize love and caring and kindness when I see it. I really appreciated that offer and accepted it. Told Tharini my true feelings and said I'd try it for her sake and she accepted. I am hoping her faith will tide me through these difficult times.

Next, I see Broom on Googletalk and her status reads "sick". So I pinged her and eventually (pretty quickly, actually) the talk turned to my kids and their health. She offered a shoulder for me to cry/whine on and said she would have babysat for my kids if she were here. She even promised that she would sincerely pretend to "listen" to all my woes so I can IM her to my heart's content :D Now what else can you ask for, huh?

Then I went to our HR director and asked her if there was a way for me to get unpaid time off if I need to (my company doesn't do unpaid time off as a policy) and she told me that even though there isn't a policy, they do evaluate such cases on individual basis and all I have to do is submit a request saying I would like to take unpaid time off for all doctors' visits for the next x number of months. I asked her if, after doing this, I wanted to take paid time off at the end of the year (we are planning a trip to India) would it be frowned upon? She said no.

Then I went back to my boss and told him about my conversation with the HR director and he supported me thoroughly. He even suggested that maybe I should take some time off and keep M at home to help her get better fast. This, despite a BIG project looming ahead.

Later during the day another friend chided me for not telling her about our ordeal because she would definitely have helped (even though she was sick too).

Coming back to my question - what did I do to deserve such kind and compassionate friends and colleagues? It really warms my heart to see that there are so many people who care for us. THANK YOU ALL!!