Cloudy With a Chance of Redemption

Dilemma: House needed to be rented.

We had a sign up on the front lawn, Twittered and used Craigslist to advertise to the world that we wished to lease our property. We had inquiries but only one couple that we would even consider as prospective tenants. They couldn't afford it, though, which was a shame considering the chemistry seemed to be there.

I lectured myself not to worry because we had plenty of time to find appropriate tenants before we'd be in a financial bind. Still, there was that seed of anxiety that germinated in my subconscious. So, I did what my husband had encouraged me to do. I called the people that we really connected with and offered to lower the monthly rent to within their budget. They immediately accepted and I believe they will treat our house like a home.

I found peace for the first time in many, many days.

Dilemma: Son downloads $900 app from iTunes.

When he text me with this little nugget of information, my composure evaporated in the time it took for the charge to show up on my credit card. Huge parenting fail. And then I got a grip. I decided that I would make him sell his video game stuff to help defray the charges and then he would have to work off the rest through babysitting and allowance deferral. He accepted the responsibility without question. Parenting win. Then, this arrived in my email:

Dear Beth,

Greetings from iTunes Store Customer Support! My name is Mr.R and I will assist you today.

I understand that the purchase of "iraPro" application by your son was unintentional. I'm very sorry to hear that, but do not worry; I would certainly help you with this issue.

Beth, I have reversed the charges for this application to your account. In three to five business days, a credit of "$899.99" should be posted to the credit card that appears on the receipt for that purchase.

Please note that this is a one-time exception, as the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions state that all sales are final.

If you still have any further issues, please write back to this email.

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Mr.R
iTunes Store Customer Support

Clouds parted, sun shone...

My son when shown the email, slumped over with relief. I was pretty darn happy myself.

Dilemma: My Ex is a Neanderthal

I don't really want to be bashing the father of my children (again) because, well...he's the father of my children and I already did that here. Nothing much has evolved since then. He's still a knuckle-dragging, responsibility-shirking, emotional cripple of a man. This past weekend was his weekend with the kids and to accommodate his work schedule, they are picked up Saturday night between 6pm and whenever he bloody well feels and returned home Sunday around 5:30pm. Sunday morning, I received a frantic call from my children, from my ex's place of employment. They were hysterical and begged me to come pick them up. I didn't ask many questions. I've learned not to. I found my car keys and left the house.

I arrived at his workplace and they were waiting out front. As we were leaving, the ex thrust his head into my driver's window and bellowed emotionally corrosive nonsense at the children about being "traitors" and "useless" while the two of them cowered in fear. For the first time, I saw genuine loathing in my son's face and I understood that Dylan had reached his capacity for forgiveness. Olivia was in the backseat sobbing hard enough to bring on dry retches.

It was magnificently awful.

When we got home, Olivia went from room to room looking for Dallas. When I explained that he was out doing a few errands, she fell apart. I understood then, that for Olivia, Dallas had been her "real" Daddy for a long time. That night, when I put her to bed, she grabbed my face between her hands and vehemently said, "I never want to go back there again", meaning my ex's house. There wasn't a lick of manipulation in the gesture. She was desperate to get her point across.

It wasn't the first time that I'd received an S.O.S. from my kids and found them emotionally battered, but I resolved that this time, it would be the last. The decision to protect my children, even from their own father, has been remarkably liberating. I just regret how long it has taken me to recognize that my children needed me to intervene.

The weekend was one of the most challenging that I've had to endure in ages but late last night, as I took a mental inventory of events, I was grateful that everything turned out okay. The house got leased, the $900 mistake was rectified and I finally decided to stand up to a bully.

I guess the silver linings are always there; it's just a matter of finding them.