After a 13 hour day Thursday and a full day Friday I had a feeling Saturday would be a bad day. Luckily, I'd gotten the call Monday to inform me my FMLA status had been approved. Small victories and all, I made sure to cover my tracks and asked my trustee union rep what I needed to do to use said leave, and he told me all I had to do was mention I was using it when I called out of work. Sounds easy, right?
My fears were confirmed about midnight Friday when I lost all control of my faculties and crashed out. Not only was I not making it to work, I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it out to Delaware. Around 2am I gave in and called my hours in. 515 I get a call asking why I'm not at work. No one had checked the messages before they were having sweet dreams of no-show paperwork. 530 I get a call that says I never mentioned I was using FMLA, so they didn't know if it would apply...therefore I was likely to be terminated. What do I do? I called said union rep, who told me as long as I'd told them it was FMLA I was fine, and I should contact a supervisor, so I did.
Now, here's where things get hairy. Supervisor on duty told me she listened to the message and that not only did I never say my name, but I also never mentioned FMLA. She told me she thought I was somebody else and that all I said was "I'm not feeling well today, I'll call you later." My words verbatim were, "Hi, this is Jenn. I'm going to use my FMLA hours today, and I will call you later today about tomorrow." End message. When I told her this she said, "Well, I just heard (UNION REP) tell you that. Of course you're going to say it now."
So, now the gyst of it is that I'm waiting a judgement...I've already been advised by a few trusted sources in the legal world that it's an easy case in my favour if they fire me.
In any case...
Although I was in a lot of pain this weekend, we decided to go anyway. Besides, classes don't require me to have legs. I worried about having to stand the duration of a rather long audience ritual, but I sucked up the energy and hobbled myself to the circle. The ritual itself was fantastic, although I know find myself in the good graces of, and almost pally with, a pretty potent deity. When I prepared for my audience I never expected the blend of good advice, blessing, and jocular revelry (?!?) I received. I guess you never can tell. In many ways this weekend was exactly what we needed. We got a chance to reconnect with our spirits, the earth, and each other. We've been so stressed and busy lately we've forgotten to take the time just to be at peace. As much as it was an opportunity to expand and learn, it was also an opportunity to rest. We absorbed more than we're conscious of yet, and that's a beautiful feeling. Last night we came hom,e played some Worms, and rested in each other's arms discussing not the next step this time, but the current step, the exact moment of this journey we are both on. It's a little muddy, a little rocky, and slightly dark, but this step is still one we walk together...and it's imperative to the journey. For a sleeting moment....peace.

Woah... you should check your css for your blog. It looks funky on Chrome/widescreen. The background image is centered, so I only see half of your content against the black.

Here's a screenshot, to help. http://tsrealms.com/images/funky_blog.jpg

Thanks for the comment!
» Praetorian on 2008-11-12 10:32:58

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