Speaking of which, "Tell It To My Face," by Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisburg (from their "Twin Sons from a Different Mother" album) is a great DBing song! lol
I too am a bit of a smoker. You guys got me thinking of some therapy meat. Very good idea for some good times though. I have a Duo Char Grill, and have yet to even use the smoking side.
W and kids left out on vacation this morning to MIL/SIL. It's just me and the dog. It is quiet, but it is a peaceful quiet. I'll miss the kids, but having W out of the house is going to be alright.
She was fit to be tied last night. I think she was supposed to get a check this week, and somehow that got delayed. She decided to look at how much credit she had on her CC and saw how little it was. She asked if I could give her some "extra" money for the trip. I simply stated that there was no "extra" money, this trip has been planned for months, she knows what her budget is, and I've told her more than once to track her CC spending online. She tells D13 that she'll have to cancel the second day at the water park next week because Dad won't give her any money. Of course I looked at her CC online and see that she's spent over $500 on clothes in the 3 weeks.
D13 is wise to the whole thing. She asked me later, why did mom and I go clothes shopping yesterday and why did she go tanning today if she wanted to go to the water park? God bless her. I just shrugged. I so don't want to get D13 involved in this, but she's not missing any of it.
She made a "flip book" at school and was showing it to me this morning. You draw a bunch of similar pictures, staple them together as a book, then riffle through them to give the story the appearance of motion. Her book was called "Love" and it showed two people moving together and kissing. Then she said if she riffled it backwards, it showed two people falling out of love. I told her we should just play it forwards. She said "I know that dad." She doesn't know it, but she does keep me going.
I talked to SIL this morning, to let her know what they're in for. SIL and MIL are dreading the visit. They think W has lost it, and are worried about effect on kids, that W is showing D13 that's it's ok to just walk away from M and party. SIL admires me for standing by. She knows W will crash hard. I told her it might take a D for that to happen. SIL knows that there is nothing any of us can say to change W's mind. You see, MIL and SIL went through my wife's brother's drug addiction. I think they see the same destructive pattern here and are wiser than last time.
I'm happy to have support of my SIL. We know there's not much we can do, but it's good to know we're on the same team.
They suspect that W will try to dump the kids on them and then go partying for 2 weeks with the local posse. They won't have it. W tried to get a couple of our nieces to go with her to water park - they both declined because they think they'll get stuck babysitting while W goes off with posse to party.
Sounds like W isn't going to get the sympathetic shoulder from either SIL or MIL. Apparently MIL had words with W already, and W hasn't spoken to her since. SIL thinks that because of cold reception at home, W may end up going to stay with local posse (thrice divorced), and that posse is really looking for W to be her roommate to help her pay her bills. SIL thinks two weeks living with posse would cure W of any romanticism associated with D'd life with kids.
It was an interesting phone call, to say the least. A whole new set of conspiracy theories. (to not give a hoot about)
So, so, so glad I'm here and not there. Did I mention how peaceful it is here? And I can play the stereo as loud as I like. Strangely liberating. I do way too much to accommodate that woman.
D13 is wise to the whole thing. She asked me later, why did mom and I go clothes shopping yesterday and why did she go tanning today if she wanted to go to the water park? God bless her. I just shrugged. I so don't want to get D13 involved in this, but she's not missing any of it.
She made a "flip book" at school and was showing it to me this morning. You draw a bunch of similar pictures, staple them together as a book, then riffle through them to give the story the appearance of motion. Her book was called "Love" and it showed two people moving together and kissing. Then she said if she riffled it backwards, it showed two people falling out of love. I told her we should just play it forwards. She said "I know that dad." She doesn't know it, but she does keep me going.
Man, that is just classic, Zew. I enjoyed your entire post, but that part right there . . . she's a keeper, that D13.
Yes, D13 means everything to me. She called me last night to ask about our vacation at the end of July. I know she's not sure if she wants to go if her mother doesn't go. (I know her mother doesn't want to go, and frankly, I don't want her there either. I also think 2 weeks without me or kids might shake W up a bit - she has never been separated from the kids.)
I told her I'd really like her to go, and we can talk about it when she gets home. I want her to come because it may well be the last time she visits my parents. And if she doesn't go, then S9 won't likely want to go. I, on the other hand, am going, no matter what. I asked D13 to keep an eye on her brother for the next few days at the water park. (I have no idea how attentive W will be while catching up with remote posse.)
SIL just called me. She and MIL haven't really talked to W yet about anything serious. They both think W is racing, in a frenzy. They think she looks bad, has lost too much weight, and she has aged a lot in the past year.
They expect to get hit up for money, and have agreed that they will only give her anything at the end of the vacation to buy gas to get her out of there. Wow. To be honest, I've been toying with the idea of not putting any money on her card so she can't get out of there. 6 weeks in a place with bad cell coverage, no texting would be good for her. Why pay to bring that set of problems back here? Ha. Ha. Just kidding. Not really.
And then this: MIL thinks that if we split, I should get the kids because W just isn't capable of looking after them. That's not something I ever expected to hear. To me, that's profound. What does it take to get a mother to say a thing like that about her daughter?
I told her we should just play it forwards. She said "I know that dad." She doesn't know it, but she does keep me going.