It's too hard sometimes

[TooLateForMe]

And, ever the one to worry about how I'm being interpreted, I followed up w/:

The previous email will likely set you off again and convince you I'm trying to make you miserable. I can deal with DD13's reaction to what I said on my own. Instead of telling me what I did wrong, in the future pretend you think I'm a human being and tell me her reaction and I can deal with that on my own. My conversation was with her, not you.

By no contact, I meant no phone contact. I had planned a period of no phoning, but I didn't make that clear. Simply, I don't want to hear your voice. Take that personally if you want, but I am making progress detaching and it is difficult to hear you speak. A simple solution is to speak with the girls in a separate room from you.

I don't want to upset the girls, but I'm not going to be lectured. Tell me how DD13 or DD10 is feeling or even how you are feeling and I will respond appropriately. I can be sympathetic to your situation, but I'm done with the aggression. Period. The last email and this one weren't intended to be aggressive, just assertive.

Also, doesn't it concern you that DD13 is sick so often?

DD13 has missed a fair amount of school due to "illness." I think a lot of it is due to the sitch. And W's general laziness of late, in that she would rather DDs stay home than fight about it if they claim to be ill.