Mommy's Day Out

I received a call on Aug. 19 for a job interview. The position was with the Indiana State Government, as a Family Case Manager. The interview was set for 8/23 at 10 AM.
There were two issues that had to be taken care of in order to attend the interview, and Woody and Mom stepped right up to help. Woody carefully wrote out all the directions, and drew me a map of the route I was to take, for the interview was in INDIANAPOLIS. (Supposedly, Indy is 3 hours from Newburgh. I found this to be otherwise. HMPHF! ) The other issue, care for Joshua, was taken care of by Mom. She and Stan arrived on Monday afternoon to stay with us for several days, for which Woody and I were both so grateful.
Tuesday morning, I woke up at 4:30 AM, to get ready, and finally left the house at 6AM. Joshua, with his sixth sense, knew the exact moment I put on my clothes, and woke up. No amount of soothing or holding would lull him back to sleep, so I finally left as quickly as possible, to the sounds of him saying"Mom?" repeatedly to my own mother.
Not exactly the way I wanted the day to start... But, I knew he was in good hands, so the stress was minimal. Well, the drive to Indy took 4 hours, not 3, when you factor in several construction delays and a potty break.
Needless to say, my stress levels had risen when I finally parked and walked into the BIGGEST state office building I had EVER SEEN!!! (In Frankfort, state government offices are divided across the city in various locations. ) NOT THE CASE in Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis Government Center is a metropolis of state departments all housed under one HUGE roof, and multiple floors. SO, navigating was intimidating to say the least. Thankfully, the interview panel was aware of the distance which I was travelling, and were graciously waiting, despite my 10 minute tardy arrival to the interview. (Yes, I called ahead as soon as I realized I was going to be late.)
I answered all the questions to the best of my ability, and 40 minutes into the interview, I realized abruptly that this was not a job I could take, if it were offered. They require completion of a Child Welfare Training session, twelve weeks in duration, in INDIANAPOLIS!! (I had been informed during the arrangement of the interview that this training could be arranged within 20 minutes driving distance of our home, due to the location of the job.) This was not the case, I later learned. VERY disappointed, I finished the interview and made my way back to my car.
The drive home was sooo loonnggg, and to beat all, I messed up and took the wrong exit back onto the interstate, (which by the way is about 10 minutes from our house).
SO, I ended up in ILLINOIS!
My 4 hour drive home ended up taking 5, by the time I got turned around, filled the car up with gas, AGAIN, and made it through 5PM traffic from Evansville!!!
The whole day seemed like such a waste of time and money, after it was all said and done, except that Mom reported Joshua to be an absolute angel for her. That was the silver lining to the whole day.
The pictures I have added were taken by Mom, as he tried to slide down the car ramp of his Little People's garage, and while he was "cooking" with grass. Needless to say, the whole trip was a mute point once I felt those little arms around my neck and we were nuzzling cheek to cheek. So, I can leave the job search to another day. It will happen, in it's right time, and until then, I cherish every moment home with my little ball of energy.