Apparently the law just doesn't apply to them....

The sun is shining today. It's actually 37 degrees outside (only 23 in CoMo where my sister lives, 40 minutes away) and the snow is melting, like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz. Things are looking brighter for me today than yesterday. And I'm not just talking about the weather outside.

I did find out something interesting from the girls this week. I picked them up Friday from the sitter, after being with The Slug for two days. The ride home after they come back is always interesting, because it's always a bitch session about all the things TFC and her brats have done to make my girls life a living hell. I've just learned to listen and let it go. I can't make them treat the girls better, I can't make them treat them fairly, I can't make them realize that the girls are unhappy. All I can do is listen and if it's serious, take it up with The Slug. Which is beyond useless, because well, he always takes TFC's side.

On our way home Friday, the girls are bitching and moaning about how unfair TFC is to them and how her girls are the biggest spoiled rotten brats they've ever seen, and I'm just letting them blow hot air. We drive past a gas station and they say "Oh, we can't go there today, Uncle X is there."

I know that the law says he can not be around anyone under the age of 18, especially girls. He can't be around my girls until The Slug passes this course and the test at the end. If Slug fails the test, the girls will never see Uncle X. Now, if I believe the girls, (and I have a tendency to do that) then they have seen Uncle X, quite a bit actually.

It seems that they have 'run into him' at the antique shop in town. Ok, now, The Slug, and Uncle X are twins. Those two don't take a shit without calling the other one first. They don't make decisions without consulting the other one. So, if The Slug is going to the Antique store, I can promise you that Uncle X knows it and there is a plan underfoot to meet up there, 'quite by accident' *wink wink*

I can't do anything about it, because, I can't prove that this is planned. They can claim it was just a coincidence, and well, you try and prove it wasn't. Does it matter that I was married to one, and I know these guys, and I know this was not an accident? I mean, they both know he's not supposed to be around the girls, so if one pulls up and the other's vehicle is there, shouldn't that be a clue to leave and come back later? Yeah, well, once again, they all believe they are above the law, and once again, they have managed to find a loophole, and find a way around the law.

Only four months
1 week
2 days
and I'll be gone.

12 weeks

I took the girls to their father's yesterday, so that they could celebrate Christmas with his family, and have Christmas with him today, as they will be with me tomorrow.

He told me there is an update on his brother. Yes, it was his twin brother who plead guilty to sexual misconduct and assault, because he inappropriately touched his teenage step-daughter. Apparently as part of his probation, and because he now has to register as a sex offender, he is not allowed to be around anyone under the age of 18 without a 'supervisor' who has attended special training. The course is 12 weeks long, and The Slug will be attending this. So, until that course is completed by Slug, his brother will not have any contact with my girls (supervised or otherwise) at all. That's 12 weeks.

Now, because the boys are twins (identical mirror image) The Slug sometimes catches hell from people in town, who confuse him for Uncle J. So, this conviction has effected everyone's life.

Apparently TD is involved with someone older than she is. (According to The Slug, she is 'messing around' with BD, who is a friend of the boys, and is 29) If that is the case, why isn't the family reporting him and pressing charges against him? After all, it's still illegal for him to be with TD because she is still under age.

Christmas was celebrated at Slug's mom's yesterday, for the family (the 3 brothers and their families) except that Uncle J could not attend. He spent the entire day in his camper, away from the family. He can't celebrate Christmas with his wife, with his neices, with his brothers, with his nephew. I understand that this is his own doing, he brought this on himself, by doing what he did. Still, it's hard to imagine sitting there, knowing the family is in the house, right beside the camper he's living in, and he can't be there to celebrate with them.

What he did was wrong, in so many ways, on so many levels. I don't argue that. I am cautious about his contact with me girls. But because he is who he is, I have not raised 7 kinds of hell about him. But I am ever vigilant, and cautious and have told the girls the truth and explained things to them, so they are aware.

Who would have thought life could turn out this way? Who could have seen this? Surely not me. But for now, at least for the next 12 weeks, I don't have to worry about the girls and Uncle J. There's some relief in that, to be sure.