I guess the rollercoaster had to take a downturn at some point. With Halloween now a pleasant memory, W had to take the wind out of my sails again. She's started in already talking about the Thanksgiving holiday. She plans to work Thanksgiving day, which is what she usually does since holiday pay is more lucrative for her. In the past we would celebrate Thanksgiving the next day, Friday, with her mother and her aunt and uncle coming over and bringing food. The aunt and uncle are not going to come over for Thanksgiving this year, but they wil stop by briefly on their way to the airport -- apparently they're going to fly out of town on the holiday.
My first thought is I would get to spend the holiday with our S's, since everyone else is not going to be around to truly observe it. But , no, W is trying to dictate to me that I am not to have our S's -- she has planned for S's to be around for the brief visit with her aunt and uncle (who live only two hours east of here). W put it like S's would stay with MIL while W works on Thursday; then Friday S's would visit with IL's in our (my) house, and I would pick them up Friday evening, and I could plan my own (belated) Thanksgiving with my S's on Saturday. WTF?!! Holiday, schmoliday! That's no differenet than any other two-day weekend that I get the boys. I am off on Thursday and Friday -- what am I supposed to do? Twiddle my thumbs?!!
I bit my tongue, and when W asked me what I thought about the plan she was introducing to (foisting on) me, I told her I would "think" about it.
I don't like this; my gut feeling is that W is trying to set a precedent here. This is the first major holiday with us separated and I think she is making a play here. I just don't understand how, even given her selfish little alien-bent mind of late, W could think that a couple of hours (if that) with her aunt and uncle means more to my S's than getting to see their father for two whole days I have available for them. And they're not even going to observe Thanksgiving until W gets home on Friday.
I am still pondering my reponse to this. I am considering several options for counter offers, but I also don't want to aggravate the tenuous so-called R with W either. She knows this is going to start a big fight, and if I don't defend myself here, she's definitely going to walk all over me.
I could agree to her terms about Thanksgiving in exchange for having both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I am sure she's going to try to work those days too to garner the extra holiday pay, but I don't think she'd really want to give up both of those days to me. I also don't trust her -- she'd probably take all of Thanksgiving this month, and then, by the time Christmas came around, she'd try to rejigger the deal.
I've also thought to tell W to use one of her days durng the weekdays before the Thanksgiving holiday to take the S's to visit the aunt and uncle at their home, if that's so gol-darn important.
To top it off, when I picked up my S's this evening for my regular weekend custody, W had slipped another draft of her precious Separation Agreement among the boys' things I brought back with them. Nice.
I guess she wants to make sure I don't feel too good about adjusting to this crazy situation. Every good day has to be countered with at least three bad ones.
