The S.O. was just out for 5 weeks because, as you may remember, he broke his foot. He's recovered now and officially back to work this week, and he just finally got cleared for his short term disability. He hasn't received a paycheck for over a month, to state that another way.

We are fine, and this thread is not really about us, for the record.

The company that the S.O. works for thankfully offers a short term disability for these kinds of issues. He wasn't put out without pay at all, and he wasn't fired. Both things to count as blessings -- in our area, his job and benefits are considered quite competitive.