Jinxing Myself? 

So - the minute after I complain about the ex’s propensity to shy away from taking sick kids on his weekends, well - my son gets sick. The day before he’s supposed to head off with his father for the weekend, of course.

When I got back from work last night, the kid looked and sounded horrible. He wasn’t overtly sick - no major coughing, sneezing, bodily fluids or fever. But he was huddled up in the corner of the chair with blankets piled over him, his eyes were glazed over and dull, and his voice was totally lethargic. Plus, he’d slept for most of the last 24 hours.

So I picked up the phone and called the ex to warn him, saying we could see where we were at when he came to pick up my daughter. And then I told my teen that he could stay home if he wanted to.

Did I want him to stay here? Absolutely not - even sick, his habit of watching TV at ear-splitting volumes when he’s awake would definitely interfere with my planned Friday evening of silence (I bathe luxuriously in said silence seconds after the kids depart, turning off noisemaking devices left and right.) And, um, well - I had plans for Saturday night. As in these kind of plans.

But did I think it was the right thing to do? Yes. (Although I am still merely human and was annoyed at myself for even offering the option to stay - even though I was smart enough not to let the kid or his father know this at the time.)

The final verdict? The kid decided to stay here last night. We agreed to re-review the situation in the morning, and decide then if he could head over to dad’s house today. And after another 12 hours of sleep and a much-improved outlook on life, the kid is now on his way over to dad’s for the rest of the weekend.

As for me? Well - I canceled my Saturday evening plans anyway.

See, when it comes to getting my kid-free weekend dose of solitude and my kid-free weekend dose of, well, not-solitude - when all is said and done (or not done, in this case) going solo takes priority.

And since the overnight guest in question totally understands that, I’m off the hook for canceling at the last minute.

But I don’t think I’ll be complaining about anything the ex does or doesn’t do for a while now. That karma, well - she never misses an opportunity to exact revenge, does she?