After several days spent being pulled between work, home, and all kinds of thoughts about adoption, the week has flown past.
Cutting a very long story short, on Monday night we found out there is a good chance that the Government may pay my salary for several months - in order to aid us in our attempts to bond and form strong attachments with the children when they arrive.
Naturally, you can image we were lost for words.
After so many months where the social services have been inquiring what we can provide - what we can do - they have now turned completely around, and are attempting to give us the world and it’s dog.
I found myself in the dilemma that must be faced by people who win holidays. What about my work? So far in our journey, the people at work have been brilliant - supporting us, giving me time off for the various interviews and meetings, and doing everything they reasonably could to help. Suddenly asking what they thought of me having three months off was surely the unknown though?
I was surprised. I had imagined maybe taking a month off, and then coming back on a part time basis. Work saw it differently - they would rather it was one or two huge chunks - to aid with project scheduling. It’s easier to say “Jonathan isn’t available until May” rather than “Jonathan is available next Tuesday, the Tuesday after that, and so on. Plus of course, you get nothing done in one day in my job. Software development typically takes weeks.
Of course, the possibility of taking three months out is purely dependent on the government saying “yes” to funding it. The social services think it’s a good idea, but that doesn’t mean the money will be forthcoming. We may hear a big loud “NO WAY” (in true Wayne and Garth style).
At the moment I am of a mind to think it would be wonderful to have this chance, but if we don’#t get it, then we can’t miss what we haven’t got.
Anybody else taken a long time off before? (other than the obvious mothers who gave birth and had six months off).
The week ended (and continues to crash around) with W returning from work on Friday night with her entire body breaking out in hives. It’s happened several years running now - each time after suffering a cold once the weather got cold in November. She looked like a burns victim last night - I felt so sorry for her. Luckily the drugs she has been prescribed seem to work, and she’s a bit happier today. She still has red welts all over her though - popping up and disappearing from hour to hour.
Send her some love. She needs it at the moment.
In other news, I just picked up four Playstation games from the bargain bin at Blockbusters. “Pirates of the Caribbean - The Legend of Jack Sparrow” (Hack and Slash ‘em up), “Arc” (RPG), “Tony Hawks American Wasteland” (skateboarding), and “Destroy All Humans” (funny action game). Hopefully they will help distract W from scratching herself to death. Keep her hands busy. That’s the theory anyway.