So, as you may have figured out, I am a member of Humor Bloggers...
Head on over there (after you're done here, of course) and join us as we continue our Anti-Injustice Campaign throughout November.
I was seriously having a wee bit of trouble deciding which injustice in my life I should campaign against.
But thank you Father Dick for making the decision easy.
Let me back up a bit...
My ex is father to all three of my kids....really...sadly...
He left me - or us.
Stupid me did not want the marriage to end....
But every once in a while - more like every few weeks - he does something that totally reminds me that I am glad he left - 'cuz otherwise I may still be serving a life sentence - either with him or in prison for getting rid of him....
The latest little reminder came to a head Friday evening.
Actually, it had its start over the summer - I just did not see it coming...again....
G-Man turned 18 in early October.
Father Dick assumed child support payments would stop at that time; I reminded him (when he mentioned it earlier in the summer) that child support does not stop until the child graduates from high school. He gave me that deer in headlights (or high on weed) look.
I was planning on helping take care of him anyway....(yeah, in your own dick head way)
I made sure when CSEA sent the paperwork, I wrote in G-Man's graduation date and had the school fax the necessary paper work confirming that he is indeed enrolled full-time in school and will graduate in June (unless he becomes a television evangelist before that time).
A couple of weeks after his birthday, I received paperwork acknowleding the court's decision that child support will continue until graduation...
Or so I thought....
Friday, hiding in the stack of mail on the kitchen table, was an envelope from CSEA.
Hmmm...what could this be?
The Obligor (aka Father Dickhead) has challenged the court's ruling about termination of payments. There is a hearing in November and I am welcome to use one of my vacation days to trek to the court house and make my case. Oh, I can bring a lawyer, too.
I read this short note three times, thinking, I must be reading it wrong. Am I the obligor or is he? I did not challenge anything. Why would he - it all seems pretty straight forward.
The kid is in school...he lives with me at least until he graduates - 'cuz it would be kind of tough for him to live on his own while finishing high school.
So, I call the ex....
Hey - how ya doing? Thanks for offering to lend me money to get my car fixed. Luckily it did not cost as much as I feared, so I covered it myself. But thanks for being my backup plan.
No problemo. (say what? are you smokin?)
But I just got this letter from the CSEA. Am I reading it wrong? Do we have a court date?
Yeah, I'm challenging it. I do not think the courts have the right to tell me how to take care of my adult kids.
He's still in high school....
He's taking some college classes...
Through the high school....
He's 18; he's an adult. I'll pay for what he needs; the court has no right to tell me I need to pay you every month....
Yeah....okay...I gotta go....(Click)
OMFG!!!!
So - let's see....
I can go to court and pay a lawyer to come with me so maybe my ex will have to pay me the $3500 that he would have to pay over the next few months if he did not challenge this...
Because, I have absolutely no confidence that the Summit County Courts will rule against him. (This lack of confidence has roots....by the time our divorce was final, you would have though I left him and was the worst Mom in the world.)
Or I can just go to work that day - maybe send a short statement to the courts - and take my chances.
Yeah, $3500 dollars is a lot of money to me - hell $500 is a lot of money to me...
But it is just not worth dealing with Father Dick anymore.
Yeah, Dickhead, you are right. It is an injustice. You should not have to pay me to provide a home (with heat and lights and elcectricity) or groceries or to take care of all the day to day little shit that comes up during senior year in high school...
But wait...what would you know about that???
You did not finish high school,did you? - Okay, not on time anyway...how old were you when you got your GED????
You moved out of your Mom's house senior year because she would not let you live there while you and your friends ran drugs between Ohio and Michigan....
But now I am digressing...
You bring out the worst in me...
Thank you for leaving those many years ago...when G-Man was like 6mos old...
Sorry - there I go again...
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