early Mother's Day gift

Parenting is hard. Stating the obvious I know. I’ve got it coming at me from both sides. Juggling an infant and a preteen/tween/twerp.

Recently, it’s been the eldest one that’s giving me fits.

It just always seems to be something. The blasé attitude towards everything. Taking his grades for granted, almost causing a dive in his GPA. Having a girlfriend, which he NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT. Notifying me of Spring Band Concerts with only about 3 hrs notice.

And the largest infraction. Getting booted from safety patrol. His involvement in other extracurricular activities took away from his commitment, and the result was that he was ‘fired’. He didn’t get in trouble for that. Where he went wrong was that he didn’t notify me of this development for TWO WHOLE MONTHS.

I tell you what, it always seems to be something. We never seem to stay at an even keel for very long. Soon as he comes off restriction, he ends up back on it. It leaves me wanting to pull my hair out sometimes.

For all my moaning and groaning though, I know how lucky I am. If these are my biggest complaints, then I have it made..

And then there are days like yesterday. When everyone (except Hubby, who is traveling for work) is home for the day. I always ask him how his day was, if anything of note happened. Usually, I get a shrug, or a ‘Nothing’, from Mr. Noncommittal Preteen. Not today. That alone is a gift.

But I was given much more. Yesterday, a bunch of classmates were making fun of someone. Someone physically limited, not like them. Not only did my son decline to participate, he even SCOLDED his fellow classmates with regard to their behavior.

Since kindergarten, peer pressure was one of my son’s biggest weaknesses. The bane of my existence. And now one of my biggest victories as a mother.

can you really recycle wives??

See if you can follow along.

Ex-husband has been married three times. THREE times. Between three wives, he has fathered four children (before he finally got snipped).

I say ‘has been’, because last summer he divorced wife #3. Shocking, but yet not. Not shocking that he’s divorced again. But shocking in the fact that HE was the one that chose to end the marriage. He’s just not that type.

Unless you know him well enough that he wouldn’t do such a thing unless he had a plan…..a replacement. Ex-wife #2.

Yes, you read that right…..he left wife #3, for wife #2. Somehow, the both of them got it in their head, that their divorce was a mistake. Given what I know, I have no earthly idea how they drew that conclusion. They had this big romantic explanation to justify their actions and current relationship.

It only held together for 6 months. Ex-wife #2 kicked Butthead to the curb this week.

Now Butthead’s trying to cry on Ex-wife #3’s shoulder, moaning & groaning over how sorry he is, and how messed up his life is. I fear a reconciliation is possible, no matter how much she protests right now. Time will tell.

He knows better than to try to turn to me. A) I’m re-married, and B) even if I wasn’t, I turned him down flat when he tried to turn to me when Ex-wife #2 kicked him out the first time.

I’m all tapped out of sympathy for him. I’m too busy trying to comfort and undo all the damage that this havoc and chaos has wreaked on our son, Marc.