Dealing with WAW Part 2

[pilot]

New wrinkle/problem developing. I said earlier I always thought the discussion of where the kids will end up in school this year would become an argument. About 2 weeks ago, it seemed that argument would never materialize as she seemed ok with the idea of coming to the area I am in.

We had a text discussion about schools and stuff for the kids. She is now saying she wants to stay up where she is now, and wants the kids to go to school there. Ok, so I know I only have 50% say so, and i do not get to dictate where the kids go. For that reason I validated her 'reasons' and did not shut the idea down completely. I said I would look into it. However, where she lives now is in the middle of nowhere in an economically depressed county. I would not have a clue what to do to make a living up there. She also said she was only thinking for a year. And that she has a job (from what I have hear it is a bartender/manager at a local restaurant) that will help her with future jobs. Keep in mind she also told me she got her course work in to take classes in a completely different career field yesterday.

The flip side where I live is that there is a lot of economic activity and opportunity. I can definitely recover financially much easier here. The schools (public) in this county rank amongst the best in the state as this county is the cash register for the state. The private schools are also top notch for the state and I have been looking at those this past week. While her family is not here, she does have many friends who live in this area as this is where we both lived together for 5 of our 7 years together.

While I see her point of having her family close as an advantage as well as lower cost of living, I had a couple of friends (girls) say she is reacting to what happened yesterday. I know this is all mind reading and speculation on their part, but they believe she is reacting to me possibly being with another person, and wants that to end. And to make that happen she wants me out of this area. Not far fetched as that was admittedly a reason I wanted to leave our old place and S...to get her away from OM.

So far I have been amicable to her suggestion and validated her reasonings. However, it is not high on my list of places to go. And neither one of us wants to live away from the kids. I have to be careful how I approach this as she has just as much right to pick where the kids live as I do. I plan on drafting my proposal for why they should live and go to school here, and back it up with as much factual information relating to how the kids will be better off short term as well as long term. Then she should realize she will have to do the same.

We will see....