A truly terrible day

Today was one of those where every time you think that nothing else can go wrong, it does. Luke is on antibiotics for a sinus infection, and the medicine is noxious. Even the pharmacist says it is some of the nastiest stuff they have! We tried it with whatever flavor it comes, and it was a battle to get him to take it this morning (his second dose). It's about the consistency of congealed white-out, and just the smell of it nearly made *me* gag. There were many tears, on both sides, about having to take it this morning. The thought of having to give him this medicine 18 more times (twice a day for 10 days, this morning was dose #2) just filled me with dread.

Then there were major wrecks everywhere on the roads both to and from daycare, so I almost missed the first staff meeting with my new boss. That meeting went well, but it was still an hour I spent on the phone, during which I received several emails from 3 of 4 vendors at work regarding problems with our in-progress projects. Tried to get those squared away during the one hour break I had between Call 1 and Call 2 for today.

Call 2 took 90 minutes instead of the 45 it should have, during which everyone was making unreasonable demands and expecting us to meet impossible dates. That call started at 11:30 I also had to make an emergency call (during Call 2!) to the field to make sure the didn't disconnect something with live service because some information I had been given was incorrect. After that, I was on the phone handling various issues that had come up in the 90 minutes I was on Call 2.

I was pretty much on the phone non-stop from 11:30 to 4 PM (including my regularly scheduled Call 3 at 3 PM), after which I was ready to crash! I totally bailed at 4:30 today. I had simply had it. We pick up Luke and go out to dinner, where I will admit that Luke was remarkably well behaved. Then we went to Target so I could go back to the pharmacy to see if they had some flavoring they could put in the antibiotic (they said I could bring it back for flavor if need be when I picked it up yesterday). I asked what they recommended. Apparently, there is a database somewhere that says this type of flavor works best for these types of medicine. They suggested bubble gum or watermelon. We went with bubble gum. Came home, where it was a battle to get him to take it again (can't blame him, really), but the flavoring really seemed to help (as did the Doritos as a reward for taking it all).

So things are going better, and I am starting to not be in nearly so bad of a mood by the time I get home. Then I sit down and check my email (which I haven't had time to do all day) and find out that someone I was very good friends with at work (who I sadly have not seen in about 5 years) had a heart attack 3 days ago and died before the paramedics could get there. It was totally out of the blue. The email came in last night about the funeral today, but I didn't get it until tonight, so I missed it (took it a while to circulate around to me via the grapevine). He was only 52. He was just such a huge personality, one of the genuinely nicest and smartest people I ever met. I am crushed that he is no longer here, that his children (now in their early to late 20s; I can't believe I remember when the youngest was in middle school!) have lost such a wonderful father, and that his grandchildren will not remember him. I was in tears off and on for the next hour or so. Such a huge huge loss.

Just the "perfect" cap to my horrid day.

Currently feeling: ready for a better day tomorrow