So there's Goldey, with two of her three bears, in this new place. There were some great things about our new spot. Abundant room for kids to say what was on their minds, instead of being stifled. In the past, H has openly discouraged individual expression (translate: do it my way or else). So the freedom to just tell jokes, move dinnertime, or just veg out was new, and fun. Goldey got to take as long of a bath as she wanted and no one lost their cool over that. I even got a tattoo, something that had been strictly forbidden for the last decade. I was seeing my IC every week, and was getting a lot of support there. But things started to unravel. Once the RO was lifted, there was contact. S16 had no desire to visit, but D13 was going once/week and having a blast each time. Before long, there were daily conversations about "Dad wants you to come home" and "He's really changed". Then, D13 decided she wanted to move back home, and before you know it, I'm the one only seeing her once/week. I continued to isolate, and by late January, I knew I was becoming very depressed. I was in pretty bad shape, and finally decided that perhaps it was worth thinking about going home.
