Irony

Is that what you call it when you wonder about cancelling a vacation for one reason, but wind up doing it for another? Or when you take a vacation day for one reason, but wind up using it for another? Or when your boyfriend sends you beautiful flowers because you're feeling like roadkill, but you wind up comforting him about a distressing event instead?

My engineer was thinking about cancelling his upcoming 2 week vacation to Thailand (he goes diving near Turtle Island -- whose Thai name I forget -- in the Gulf of Thailand) because well, there's been rioting in Bangkok. If so, his trip insurance would not have covered cancellation for civil unrest (insurers, as I well know consider that to fall in the category of acts of G*d). Instead, he's just cancelled it because his 78 year old dad is about to have exploratory heart surgery. Surprise!

So although he sent me those lovely, fragrant flowers yesterday because work and my psycho mom have been getting me down, enough so that I am taking tomorrow off as a mental health day, I spent last evening soothing him. And I will spend tomorrow in the hospital with his 80 year old mom (he took today off) so that he can clear the decks at work, instead of us both playing hooky.

Oh well. I consider a vacation day spent easing his mind -- and hers: she's a doll -- a vacation day well spent. (Besides, if I get laid off after September 25th, I'm certainly not giving my unused vacation days BACK!)

Yes, we just found out yesterday that their local hospital is transferring his dad to the cardiac specialists at St. Barnabas bright and early this morning at 8am, which is why I have been awake for 2 hours already: he got up before dawn so that he could go down to his family's house and drive his mom up to the hospital here. I foresee lots of iced coffee in my day.

On the bright side, this means I can go into work early and clear off my desk before I disappear tomorrow. Bonus: My early appearance will also shock my coworkers senseless. ;-P

And did I mention that I plan to introduce him to said psycho mom? Yeah, it's kinda serious. Although we haven't talked about Anything Permanent, I obviously feel a lot more secure in his feelings for me (or in the words of my PoW, I have "formed a secure attachment" -- hee! shrinkspeak is so funny sometimes). That, and verbal reinforcement from my sister (as in: "Mom, DON'T BUG HER about Things"), means I am feeling sanguine about this formerly terrifying prospect.

Oh, I completely forgot (funny, that): I qualified for WW Lifetime Status yesterday! This means that as long I stay no more than 2 lbs. above my goal weight (grand total of 43 lbs. lost) then all meetings are free. Forever. If I go above 2 lbs. (I can go below) then I pay a meeting attendance fee. And I think I have to weigh in officially (i.e., at a meeting) at least once a month, which is a good form of accountability.

Okay, off to face this hideous hordes of commuters and see if I can avoid the even more hideous WTC ceremonies this morning. Ugh.