Another change in my situation.

I have talked about how I got myself in my current situation, which makes it very difficult to play poker (see posts on February 26 and June 20.) Now there is a new development, which once again leaves me in an awkward situation.

As mentioned in earlier posts, there are four of us who are directly involved in my mother's care. Two of us, my sister-in-law and I, are live-in caregivers who split up the week, staying there full-time three to four days a week. My wife and my brother-in-law have full-time jobs which require them to be there at regular times, and when they are not working they do other takes like home maintenance, playing her bills, and handing her medical issues.

That was the setup, which I made the mistake of agreeing to, putting poker on hold.  The four of us would work at this until my mother-in-law died or someone in our group of four just couldn't do it any more.

Well, someone has cracked, and that family member found a replacement from outside the family (some of us were not involved in that decision) to be her on-call substutute.   She has been offered to me as a subsitute as well.  I know next to nothing about this person, and I have never communicated with her in any way.

So, now my situation is even weirder.  When I committed to this arrangement, I knew that I was 100 percent in.  Once I take something on, I don't quit.  I had one job where I worked lots of overtime and sometimes all three shifts in a week, and I missed only three scheduled work days in 12 years.  I knew there was no way I was going to be the one to pull the plug on the arrangement to take care of my mother-in-law, I would keep going until someone else quit.

So what do I do now?  I made a commitment to be with my mother-in-law on all of my scheduled days.  I don't feel right about asking a sub to take some of those days--and, since this person was sprung on me, I don't even know how much she is willing or able to do (she is 75.)  If I do all of my scheduled days (taking away from my real job, poker) am I doing the right thing, or am I a sucker?

What a mess.  This weekend I was going to so something I rarely am able to do--play live poker tournaments two days in a row.  I didn't play today.  I was too tired.  I won't waste a $50 buy-in if I'm too tired to play.

I will play tomorrow.  I hope.