I am typing this before 8 AM on Memorial Day while I wait for my breakfast to heat up. I’m at work. I have been here since about 6 AM. The “why” isn’t important, but what is important is that I have been on call for over a decade and I am NOT a brain surgeon or someone else that is tasked with saving the human life.
I am grateful to have a paycheck in a time where it seems jobs are dwindling away, disappearing, vacant positions no longer being filled. I am grateful for being able to pay my mortgage so I have a home…
but I am not grateful that my kiddo is getting herself ready to go to school with only a text message of “good morning” from me. I was supposed to be off work; I was going to make bacon and eggs for her and all the things I don’t normally have time to do. I had a plan for how I was going to spend my morning, my day.
It’s just not right. It’s not fair. Yeah, yeah: life isn’t fair, I know. But when have I done my time so that I don’t have to hustle like this anymore? When have I put in enough effort that I don’t get called on holidays, weekends, sick days, vacation days?