I intend to live forever - so far, so good

[ClingingToHope]

After my divorce class last night, I played softball then headed to the store and got D8 some new tennis shoes. Somehow she lost one at my house yesterday. It's amazing how one shoe can disappear in a 1,000-square-foot house.

I dropped them off after 10 p.m. and I thought D8 would be sleeping, but she wasn't feeling well and came out to see me.

The poor girl so wants her parents back together. D12 has given up. D8 still hasn't.

Turns out she was sick and was going to miss a day of school, but she rallied in the morning and made it in.

This morning I updated the summer schedule and sent it to STBXW.

STBXW rarely plans ahead on things -- which is a big part of the reason I usually ended up taking things over.

Last summer, I didn't coordinate anything with her. I figured she wanted to be the custodial parent, it's her job to figure it out.

Well, the summer all got thrown together at the last moment.

That wasn't good for the girls. So this year I put together a chart with her weeks of vacation, my weeks of vacation, who has them on what weekends and then I plugged in the camps they are going to that I know of.

She's getting to cake-eat here, but having it all organized helps me find little ways to maximize my time with them.

There's a week in August where I'm not sure what they are doing yet. Neither STBXW nor I have that week off so they'll have to be at camp.

I proposed splitting them up that week. I take D12 on Monday and Tuesday and then D8 on Wednesday and Thursday. That'd be extra time for me and it'd be time apart for them. I want to take D12 into Chicago by herself for a day and just hit the stores. I want to take D8 to Madison, Wis., for a day by herself and see the new childrens museum.

The tough thing about having separated parents is it means they are always together and they get tired of each other.

STBXW took the girls to counseling two weeks ago because she said they were fighting all the time. Well ... they are fighting all the time because they are always together. When STBXW and I were still together, we'd do a lot of things where STBXW would take one kid and I'd take the other. They are 3 1/2 years apart so things D8 likes to do bores D12 and D12 can do things that D8 can't. It's a real challenge some times.

Divorce thoughts. Can't help from looking ahead. If we get within a week of the May 31 divorce date and she still hasn't signed, I was wondering whether I should send her a reminder email to get the papers signed. I don't want to seem eager, but I definitely don't want this continued for another couple of weeks. That's just another court date and $250 out the window, especially now that I'm the ONLY ONE still wracking up legal fees.

I also exchanged a few texts with church 31. The countdown to May 31 continues. Today, I'm OK with it.