Yes Douchebag, It Is A Real Job

Has anyone ever told you the following?

"You need to stop pretending you have a job. Don't send him {my son} to daycare and tell people you have a job just because you can't take care of your own kid." This was said to me at the Scleroderma walk in private by someone I will never invite to participate in anything ever again, unless mandated by court.

But, I will use this blog to respond to his statement, only because I was too dumbfounded at the time.

I do have a real job. For years I believed it wasn't real and I let someone tell me it wasn't. It's not a conventional 9 to 5. It's a 24/7 job and unless you take it seriously you can get fired. This job is managing two serious chronic illnesses and having a fulfilling and active life as a person and a parent. I'm not special. We all have a 24/7 job to take care of our health. Some just have a lighter workload than others.

Many who have one or more chronic illnesses or any type of debilitating condition know this job well. I can't speak for others, but for me at times it did seem like a fake job. No one else had a "workload" like mine. Oh and there's that denial that works so well for me. It does help me hurdle obstacles in my path, but it can distract me from paying attention to my job.

I'm still digesting that person's statement. I'm working on a memoir and I will be including it or I may decide to use this person as a fictional character in a novel. For now, I'm just sitting with it. I posted this because if there's anyone out there who has someone in your life and believes that your job is a fake one, it's not. It's as real as the day is long.