One in a row....

As I mentioned at the end of last summer, I've had........ummm......difficulties with my ex wife getting the kids back home at the end of her summer visitation. (For more info, just read the posts from last summer. I'm really proud of myself for not whining and moaning all summer long about how much I miss my kids this time.) After having had it happen so many times you would think that I would know better. I didn't. I was stupid and actually thought that this year would be different.

Hence the title of this post. Just say it quickly and you'll figure it out.

The excuse this year is that the alternator in her van gave out. According to her, by the time she buys the alternator and has it installed, she just won't have enough money to bring the kids home. She called this evening to tell me that I had to buy the plane tickets. Again.

To be really truthful, this isn't much of a surprise. After being burned so many times in the past I would have been surprised if it had turned out the other way and she actually had managed to bring the kids home without any drama. At least this year she had the courtesy to give me enough advance notice that I could get the cheap plane tickets instead of the "oh crap, gotta travel tomorrow" tickets.

One thing makes it all worthwhile: the way Kathy and Nathan reacted when she told them. She told me about it when I called to inform her of their itinerary. Apparently, earlier today, before she called me, she told the kids that because of the alternator replacement she was going to have to cancel their trip to Six Flags, that she wouldn't be able to bring them home, that she wouldn't be able to get married in Oak Creek Canyon like she had planned, and that she was going to have to call me to ask for money for plane tickets. The kids didn't cry, they didn't yell, they didn't gripe at her, they weren't even angry...........................

They both laughed in her face.

I think perhaps they understand much more about what kind of person their mother really is than she gives them credit for.

PS: Do the math on everything that was cancelled due to the alternator going bad. Someone on the other side of the country doesn't add and subtract well. My children certainly do.

_