ALRIGHT. There's nothing like topping off a pretty decent day like involving your poor innocent significant other in a moment of sheer vehicular brainlessness.
I went to pull into the little off-the-beaten-path driveway of the fast food restaurant that we were going to lunch at, and miscalculated where the pull in was. I ended up taking the wrong one, and found myself on the sidewalk, before I knew it. There was no turning back; traffic was behind me and I was committed. I heard B sputtering beside me, and then laughing incredulously, but there was nothing more to do but utter "Ah shit!"
There were a few moments in there that I thought he was going to fall over laughing.
I am so embarrassed. What a week.
This wouldn't have happened if I'd remembered lunchmeat at the store last night.
You'd better believe lunchmeat is on my list.
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THE kids are off to their sister's in Oregon tomorrow. She's leaving Bend at 5, and should be here sometime around 10ish. They will be gone for a week. Spring Break - who says it's just for kids? lol
The daughter took her written drivers' exam yesterday afternoon and got a 92. Tomorrow she takes her driving exam. I'm not sure I'm ready for all this. She thinks she's just going to take my keys right away from me. Yeah, right!
I let her drive last night on our run to Safeway for beer and sugar (cause coffee in the morning without sugar is truly only for heathens). While we were gone, B had a good conversation with the boy. Evidently, while I was gone with the girl to the Licensing Dept, the boys had way too much fun out in the garage after school. They had taken a box of Girl Scout cookies and thrown them all around the garage, trying to be funny. It IS sort of funny... there are Thin Mint bits everywhere you look. The weiner dog had a blast out there last night on a treasure hunt, sniffing out all the crumbs. (Hansel and Gretel would have died in the woods with this dog around)
B was really upset when I got home the first time and he was telling me about it. I know that the garage is really his sanctuary, and it was like the boys had come in and desecrated things, rummaging around, making a mess, and generally being poops. The last straw was when he caught them drinking out of the milk jug. I promised to talk to the boy, set things straight, but I could feel that B was still upset.
When I got home from the store on the second trip, the house was pretty quiet. I went out to talk to B before we went to bed, and he said that he'd talked to the boy. He told him that he wanted to respect the boy, and do fun things with him like go fishing, but that he was making it hard. He told him that he respected the boy's stuff, and he expected the boy to respect ours. And then he told him that when he moved in here, he knew that it would be hard for us all to assimilate, but that he believed that if you love the woman, you love her kids, and he hoped that the boy understood that. That he was as mad as he was going to get, but that he still loved him. And then he shook the boys hand, and told him that he wasn't out to bully him, or fight with him, but if he received respect from the boy that he would receive respect in return.
He said that the boy actually made eye contact with him, and listened without interrupting or arguing. This is a big change for this kid. Things had been getting pretty bad for us all over the past year prior to the divorce. I really believe that if I'd stuck it out, that the ex and the boy would have come to blows. The ex never understood respect. He wanted obedience, unquestioningly. He would get up in the boy's face and spit and yell... the whole Napoleon complex thing. It was like a war zone, all the time.
After I talked to B, I went to get the kids ready for bed. The boy followed me around the house, and actually gave me a hug and kiss. He was hungry for comfort. I think that having B's respect is a very big thing for him. It made my heart swell. I think B and his consistent, solid, quiet style is going to be very good for my son. To give him back some respect, some self respect, and the tools he needs to become a good man.
I told B this morning how impressed I was with the night's events, and that I thought it had been good for all of us for it to have come to a head somewhat. I told him that I believed that boys needed guidance to become good men, and that finally, here, my son could see what one looked like.
My B. God bless him.
I think we're going to be okay.
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