Tough situation

This is the story about a woman, her church, and her mother. And I (the woman) think I need to do some serious praying to learn whether I've done the right thing!

Trying to keep this succinct, for those who care about such things. And boy, wouldn't it be nice if my posts gave some indication of insight and critical thinking? Maybe that liberal arts education was wasted on me, after all.

My mom is looking for a job. She's been living with us since February and wants to get her own place, but really needs to be in a better financial position to make that happen. And since she's had 3 jobs in the past six months, with a not-so-great track record in previous years either, I have counseled her to wait until she's been in a position for 3+ months before she seriously thinks about moving out. (So who's the parent, exactly?) Mom's got a job now, but is desperate to get out of it. And part of me agrees that it's really not a healthy working environment, all kinds of boss-is-a-psycho/ass issues. But OTOH, she's still getting paid, so why leave unless something better comes up? But mainly what I wonder is, don't I deserve combat pay for having to listen to her daily recap?

Meanwhile, my church needs to hire a new pastors' secretary. And I'm on the SPRC (staff-parish relations cmte), the one that does the hiring. Tonight we interviewed 4 candidates, and she was one. I got to recuse myself during her time with the committee. Then discussion turned to comparing candidates, and it turned out to be that Mom was leading the pack. She was confident, out-going, friendly, highly qualified, blah blah blah.

Then the traitorous daughter spoke up. Indicated (truthfully) that my mom is not as even-tempered and confident as she appeared; if other candidates were being disqualified on account of "having serious mood swings" then they should know that Mom does too. (Really, don't we all? But I know that she's really not functioning well lately.) And that, frankly, I think she gets "sick" a lot. And I know sometimes it's migraines or something semi-serious, but other times I think it's just her way of retreating from the world. So I had a few things to say about that. I wouldn't say that anybody's jaw dropped at my revelations, but it struck me as a mixed blessing when our pastor thanked me for my candor.

Fortunately, we have a candidate who is a member of our church, meets all the tangible and intangible criteria, and whose only concern is whether the position (part-time) will provide her with appropriate benefits. I really hope that this other woman can work it out to accept the job. But if she doesn't, it looks like Mom might be next in line.

And if she does get it, I'll have to resign from SPRC because family of staff members are not allowed. So there's some small comfort in that.