He has to pick them up and drop them off at Nana’s house, even though one is an adult, the other is almost an adult, and they can drive themselves.
Per court order.
Yes, that precious court order that gets him to still listen to her, and she knows he’ll do it to see his kids.
I thought the conflict was over. I thought that was the purpose of divorce.
I never had a conflict with that woman. She would denigrate me, then copy the very things I did. She was always highlighting me in her court battles and through her kids. She wanted and needed me to be a conflict for her narrative.
But that’s not me.
A decade later, and my husband still has to go to Nana’s house to see his adult children. To me, it’s laughable at this point how important it is for her to have her ex-husband go to her mom’s house, when it’s allowed for him to see their shared adult children, even though she was the one who introduced infidelity into the marriage.
Excuse me, ma’am, but I think you’re the only one carrying conflicting emotions, considering a decade has passed. But are you the only one, or do you need your daughters to carry the conflict with you?
Do the adult children feel unsafe with their dad, or does their mom just need them to see their dad through her eyes and opinions of the man?
Can the adult children accept their father and his family and claim them as half of their identity without upsetting Mom and Nana?
Can they love their dad openly, or is there a loyalty bind preventing an honest father-daughter relationship from forming?
Let’s go back to Nana’s house and stay on that loop.
Stunted on a loop formed when the two were 16-year-old children, going to prom, going to Nana’s.
Nana must’ve been the third member in their relationship and marriage. And now she replaces the father role for my husband’s kids.
How horrid.
The woman wears a permanent scowl—
Instead of watching her grandchildren in delight at their sporting events, she pierces my husband, myself, and my baby daughter with her scornful eye.
“If they can’t love me, you can’t love them.”
Love is a finite resource at Nana’s house. She teaches children to cultivate vitriol rather than vulnerability.
So, on our way to grandmother’s house we go.
Per court order!
