Legal protections

Is it really too much to ask that Jen or I can get a good job in a place that doesn't hate us? That would be nice.

I have such mixed feelings about this whole "pen dealer job in Florida" thing. There is a part of me that just wants My Jennifer to throw all caution to the wind and try to take advantage of this career opportunity. After all, she should definitely be in a job that doesn't simply involve being a retail slave, and she has far more talent and skills than that. I think she would like this sort of job and it is certainly a step up from where she is now, while at the same time would make what she's doing now an actual stepping stone instead of just a sucky retail job.

But then there's the part of me that just wants to mope and yell, "RUN AWAAAAAY!" I really think I /could/ manage living somewhere where we weren't married and didn't have the legal protections and recognition of our family, but I think about what a challenge that would be and it breaks my heart. I think about all of the plans we have, and how she's been trying so hard to find a job that would pay enough to support us so that I could stay home for a while when we start having babies... and now she might find one but due to the HR policies and the stupid laws, I wouldn't be able to stay home because I would need to work so I could have health insurance. And then there's the whole "if one of us had a baby, the other would have no legal claim to the baby without a whole lot of possibly unrecognized legal documentation" thing that just plain makes my heart hurt.

Part of me doesn't want to leave Massachusetts ever ever ever, for a lot of personally selfish reasons but also for the legal protections. I would give up the selfish things in a heartbeat if this is the best thing for Jen and for us, but the legal stuff? We've had it for so little time but it's already meant so much.

Ugh. I hate this, big time. The same discussions come up again and again when we talk about Columbus... except that Columbus didn't come with a possible Good Job for Jen.

Going out on dates

I was babysitting tonight and attempting the odious task of trying to get the girl to go to sleep. She usually falls asleep with one of her moms in the trundle bed beside her, and I suppose I am a poor substitute. So we usually end up talking about whatever until the moms come home. Tonight's topic was about going on dates. At one point several weeks ago, when she asked where her moms were, I told her they were on a date. She's been fascinated with dates ever since.

So tonight she asks me why she can't go on a date. So I told her that when she was old enough to drive a car (that seemed like a pretty safe age), she could find someone that she liked and ask that person on a date. I told her she could get in the car and drive with her date, and maybe they would go out to dinner or go to the movies.

So she says to me, "So when I grow up to be Mommy, and someone else grows up to be Mama, I will say, 'Do you want to go on a date?' and she will say, 'Yes I do want to go on a date,' and we will get in the car and she will sit right on the side of me and we will go on a date."

Man, I need to get me one of these crazy things called 'kids.' They're so fabulous.