[Archive]

I'm feeling like a major jerk right now. It's definitely a feeling I don't like to have... though it comes and goes from time to time.

Demario's adoption finalization has been scheduled for October 31. It WAS scheduled for October 9, but WE had to ask for the court day to be changed. See... October 9 is on a Tuesday, and the courthouse is two hours (one way) away from us.

We own a weekly newspaper. Tuesday is deadline day. Everybody knows that Tuesday is deadline day, and true to human nature, those who advertise wait until the last minute to put their ads in. Without ads, we don't survive. Three people get this paper out each week: my husband, our advertiser and myself (on a very part time basis, juggling the classified pages, and editorial and articles around our homeschool schedule). Two people COULD put in a really long day and get it out together, but because both my husband and I have to be at the hearing, there is only one person to do it. Either my husband or I could put in a ridiculous day and come pretty close to getting it done by ourselves, but the advertiser doesn't do articles, pictures or layout, so she can't do it alone.

Our paper is a member of the Press Association, who gives accreditation only to those newspapers who show credibility in keeping their deadlines and publishing days on the SAME DAY every week. Without this accreditation, we don't have a mailing permit to mail. And our ads will then go down the street to the next town and a newspaper there that was recently bought by a newspaper chain that has enough money to bring in trained people from other places if need be. Very rarely, the PA will grant an emergency variance on publication dates, but only in dire emergencies. In 25 years, this paper has only been late once, and that was three years ago when the office burned down on a Monday night.

Normally, we have at least two good employees who can step in when Roger and I are both gone. However, good employees in this area have been hard to find recently. So, we have only one other than ourselves.

Anyway (I'm sure that was way too much information), we obviously can't be gone on a Tuesday at this point in time. The attorney seemed to understand this (and hopefully the judge did too), and didn't act like it was a big deal... he probably made another $200 off us simply for re-arranging the date.

But GOSH... imagine how dippy it feels to say, "Well, gee, we love the kid and we REALLY want him to be a part of our family... but the court date is really inconvenient for us..." Ugh. That's just absolutely terrible... If the courthouse was in town, then we could just zip over there and get it done on the 9th as we planned. But it will be an all day trip and WE CAN'T DO IT. It just sounds like we've got our priorities totally out of whack, when really, we don't have a choice. We can't lose our business for a hearing that can be rescheduled. Yuck, yuck, yuck...

(Feeling totally awful about this)

-SusanC.