By all accounts, today was a beautiful day. My nephew on Wife's side of the family graduated from high school in San Antonio. Everyone is proud of him and even more so because he started out rough in his youth. His mama was 15-16 when he was born, he was labeled ADHD at a young age and it wasn't until he got into about junior high when he was put on Ritalin and other pills to control his explosive temper that he started behaving and progressing well in school. If not for my in-laws who have always treated him like a fifth child of their own, even with his mom always present, that he finally started not just passing but excelling.
I don't know if he finally outgrew his extra energy which made him a handful, but he has become a sweet boy who I liken to an overly friendly saint Bernard. He is 6ft 2in or so and lucky for us he is a loveable kid at heart because someone that size could be hard to handle if he behaved like he did when he was younger. There was a point he went from one tantrum to another, I didn't care for him then, but we went to Florida two years ago with them and I found him very likable. He was excited to be there and excited to be in Disney World with us.
My complaint for today just has to do with timing. The graduation was at 3:00pm, which meant we had to live Austin by 1:30pm, the latest and hope for no delays. This meant I had to get up around noon, if I was going to shower and eat something to attempt to poop. Since I was getting up at noon, and I worked last night until 7:00am, and I didn't get home until 7:15am, one can do the math on how much I was given to sleep. Even though I planned last week to be out and I even worked an extra day, I didn't plan on having to get up this early. Most graduations I have gone to have been later in the day. After cutting my pay to save a couple of nickels, there is no way anyone above me understands that I still have to function on whatever sleep I can manage. What am I supposed to do, miss two days of work because a member of the family is graduating? That sounds ridiculous, no I just have to tough it out. So there I am, falling asleep at the graduation, stopping for a coffee on my drive up there, even though it is 95 degrees outside and I hate drinking hot stuff in the heat, falling asleep standing around while they are all taking pictures, falling asleep while we go to the restaurant to eat as a family because I slept less than four hours.
I guess it is my fault, I accept that my discomfort is worth a shitty 5% more than the people who work normal schedules. It wasn't that long ago that I would just laugh it off when people made fun of me because I had fallen asleep at the table while dining, at least I could tell myself I get compensated well at 15% to tolerate the jokes plus I am important and needed on nights. Now I just feel like an idiot punishing myself and going night after night not seeing my family for a measly 5%. Fuck that, I might as well lose that and work dayshift. I just have to learn to sleep in the dark again, which is a little scary for me right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment