nagi_schwarz | Day 1306: All it takes is one

All it takes is one small thing to ruin an otherwise awesome experience.

My parents came up last week to help finish putting in the tiles in the basement bedroom so we can finish that room and finally reclaim our basement. We went out to dinner a couple of times, we talked, it was great. Also I went to work one day and left Cody home with my parents...so naturally Cody and my mom fought. Sometimes my mom is just waaaaaay oversensitive, but this time I kinda have to side with mom. Cody grew up with more rough-and-tumble family dynamics, and he's sort of of the old-school philosophy that everyone else needs to man up and grow a thicker skin. Having been on the wrong side of his sharp tongue, even when he doesn't mean to be sharp - just because it's habit doesn't mean it's okay - I understand how feelings get hurt. At least he's mature enough to realize he acted badly. He tried to apologize, but of course my mother's feelings were hurt, so then she acted badly, and it was all downhill from there.

For reals.

Still, camping this weekend was pretty good, and Cody and my mom both went out of their way to not be awkward. I got to hang out with my brother-in-law and his kids (no, my sister wasn't there, because hello awkward). Strawberry Reservoir was beautiful. It was relaxing. I got some writing done. Played puzzle dice with my niece, and also colored with her a lot. Got to play with my little nephew, too, who is still much shyer than his sister but does better with me and Cody. We played in the water - I went rowing for the first time in forever - and it was good.

Naomi and I went to the last concert of the season up at Deer Valley, a Beatles tribute concert. We met up in town first, ate, and then carpooled in Naomi's car. The concert was amazing. Open air. Beautiful sunset. We listened along, and sang, and danced, and waved our cellphones (in lieu of lighters), and had a rollicking good time.

Came home Sunday, relaxed, cuddled with the dogs, ate, wrote, did some laundry, finished a season of Korra.

Woke up this morning nice and slow. Cuddled with Cody for a bit. Dingo decided to be the perfect puppy footwarmer, so we lounged on the couch and read. My first appointment wasn't till eleven, so I had all the plans to be lazy. Didn't happen. Got a call from a caseworker. One of my dads on one of my cases went crazy this weekend and tried to kill one of my clients. A four-month-old baby.

All it takes is one thing to ruin an otherwise perfectly okay day.

The caseworker called me in a tizzy because she found out about it on Facebook. Someone had posted the news story and she recognized the dad's name, and we read through it together and were both just kind of...speechless. And then we had to scramble, because no one had called us, and we knew the dad was in jail, but we didn't know where the mom and kids are (still don't, still kind of panicked).

But after a brief crying jag in the car, I got myself together to attend a mediation, and then took myself to the soda shack, and then off to the other courthouse. Because the bailiffs there are sweethearts, I gossiped to them about my crazy case, which prompted them to look up details not included in the news report, and what ho, but dad was on drugs when all this went down.

I have a few more court hearings to get through, and then I am free for the day. My plans mostly involve folding laundry, watching NCIS, and maybe a spot of grocery shopping. We shall see.

I can rescue this Monday. I can.

Here's to a better week!