My Single Mom Life

The meeting with the truancy officer and the social worker that is.

Before they got here, I vac'd the rugs like I said I was going to, and I straightened out all of the stuff on my coffee table, the place-mats, magazines, some candles, and I also placed my camera on top of the small picture printer that I have, it prints 4x6 pictures, it's about the same size as one of these epson tm-t88iv receipt printers, so it just looked like my camera was docked on it's printer/charging station.
I checked it's positioning before they got here by setting it up and having it on the self-timer to snap a picture every 5 seconds.
Then I checked the pictures to see if I had it positioned perfectly to video capture both my sofa and love seat no matter where they sat.
It did.
I had the blinds open so that I could see when they pulled in, and once they did, I pressed the button to start recording the entire meeting, and then I answered the door and invited them to sit down.

The social worker sat on the love seat near me, and the truancy officer sat on the sofa.
The social worker started off by asking me how she could help me, and I was totally confused by this, I had absolutely no idea why there was even a social worker involved, why she was in my house.
The truancy worker I could sorta see, although like I said, a little late in the year to be talking to me about truancy issues with just 15 days left of school for the year.
So I asked her why she was here, why was she asking me how she could help me, I totally didn't understand why she was here.
She said that they know that I'm a disabled parent, struggling, and so they wanted to know if I would like help getting back and forth to the Senior Friendship Center so that I could have some social interaction, not be so alone, take advantage of the services that they offer, get meals on wheels, that kind of thing, ad I asked her, quite offended I might add, "Just how old do you think I am?!"
She said, "Well you're disabled and receiving SSDI, and so you're in your mid-to-late 50s, and we think that..."
I stopped her and said really offended now, "50's?! You think JUST because I'm disabled and receiving SSDI, that I must be in my 50s?! Do I LOOK like I'm in my 50s?! Seriously?! Seriously. Enough, just stop. Now."

I asked her if there was any other reason that she was here, told her that I do not need any services that the Senior Friendship Center has to offer, what other reason is she here.
She said that she's a social worker and because of Sebastian's truancy, that obviously, there are problems at home, perhaps there's not enough food to eat, that the bills are struggling to be paid, that there are organizations which can help me cover the cost of my medications, bring meals on wheels, and free counseling services for the family so that we can deal with our family issues, and also, most importantly, free counseling for me, because being a disabled and single parent can be extremely difficult and stressful, and so rather than take out my issues on my sons and jeopardizing Sebastian's education, I could talk to someone about it, all free of course.

Mark was sitting on the arm of the sofa near the door end of it, and he had started to laugh, he could see the look on my face, he knew that I was about to lose it.
I told her that I did not need any of those services, that my sons did not need any of those services, we did not need counseling, meals on wheels, that I have insurance to pay for my medications, it's always a struggle to pay the bills but they do get paid every month, and that Sebastian's truancy issues are mostly due to the school seriously messing up his record, and just since Monday, the vice principal has found 47 instances of where he was marked absent incorrectly, and she was still working on it, so no, no, I did not want or need any of the services that she was offering.
She sat there, mouth sort of agape, and then turned to Mark and asked him if he felt that he needed or wanted counseling to deal with our family issues, and did he feel "safe" living at home with me.
Mark started laughing, loudly, and then he said to her, "Seriously?!"
Man, he's so my kid. haha
He told her, "No, I do not need or want any counseling, and yes, I feel very safe living at home with my disabled and single mother who has been raising me and my brother by herself for the last 17 years. She does struggle from time to time, like EVERYBODY DOES, but the lights, phone, water, and internet are all on, there's plenty of food in the fridge, we have clean clothes, and she takes really good care of us. And by the way, for your records, seeing as you're writing things down. She's 40, just turned 40 in March."

She then said that she had nothing else to discuss with me, she guessed, so she asked the truancy worker to talk to me about what he needed to.
He started in about Sebastian's absences, and I asked him if the school had notified him of those 47 instances of where he was marked absent incorrectly and still looking at all of the rest of the dates.
He said that he hadn't, so I said well maybe you should catch up on what page we're on, and then you can come back and talk to me about it.
He said that even though things are being found, Sebastian still needs to not miss a single day for the rest of the year, and I said that I knew that, anything else?
He said no, he guessed not, and so I said, well then, thanks for coming by, and he said to me that I really should take advantage of the services being offered by the social worker, that it sounds like I have some issues that need to be dealt with.
I told him that of course it sounds like I have issues.
The school said that he was absent 80 out of the 156 days passed in the school year, they threatened him with expulsion, people, including him, had called me a liar when I told them that those numbers were absolutely incorrect, and the school has now found that 47 of those absences were incorrect, about all of the trouble we've had in trying to get the school to allow Sebastian to take his medication for his migraines, and that right now, there's a social worker sitting in my house telling me that I'm a mid-50s-aged woman who is depressed, disabled, and a single mother, who needs counseling because I'm taking my problems out on my sons, and a truancy officer with incorrect information about my son's absences from school. Wouldn't HE be upset if this was happening to him in his living room?!?

He said yes, he could totally see my point, sorry for not having updated information, sorry to have insulted me, she apologized for insulting me, and then they said that they would be leaving now.
I said good, thank you, Sebastian will be there for the remainder of the year, migraine or not, and if he does have one, the nurse will be excusing him for home for the rest of the day, a legal and valid excuse that will NOT be held against him, I have the principals word on that, thanks for coming, good-bye, and I escorted them out the door.

Mark busted out laughing before I even finished closing the door.
It did go better than expected, but seriously?!
I mean, come on!
That was just absolutely, just wow.