These years spent, so faded and wreckless

Song Of The Moment

For 10 years, I lived with a woman. 7 of those years I was a husband and 3 of those years I was a Father. Still am a father, really. According to my young one, I am "Daddy", even if Mommy's new boyfriend needs to be called Dad, so her new baby doesn't get confused. She still calls him Frankie...inconsequential.

What I forgot was that I was "Uncle Hughie" to the womans sisters' 2 boys for those 10 years. When visiting, we would play, the 3 of us. As I always told them, always new games, and we always made up something new to do. The one with the red afro of hair (William) and the other with blonde fair hair (Shayne) and me. When they moved to B.C. for a Summer, I missed those kids, and was honestly afraid that they wouldn't remember me. When they came back, it was almost like they never left.

When my career as a husband ended, it was hard trying to see those kids. Her and I could not be in the same room, without a fight. Tell the truth, its still the same to this day, hence the "Stop calling your ex-husbands house" order on her from the police and the reason why I do not go to her door, only as far as the driveway, when picking up my young one. I do not want a scene. So, inevitably, I stopped seeing my 2 nephews... that step of seperation came and went. Shortly after, they all moved to B.C. again. Mom, Dad, the 2 boys and their new baby sister, for good.

Til last month.

They moved back and settled into a little trailer, 3 houses away from my young ones Moms house. Their Mom left her guy, as well, and the William went to live with him. Shayne and the baby stayed with her Mom. Naturally, I was shocked when I first seen them when picking up my young one. The short, quiet one had grown 5 years and a foot older. The baby was no baby, no diapers and crawling, walking and talking and best friends with my young one.

Tonight, I took my young one out trick or treating and, naturally, she wanted her cousins to come. Picking them up was almost a half an hour in the driveway, learning how much Shayne had grown (Quadruple-jointed elbows and stories of close encounters with bears in B.C.) and discovering how much like my young one the little girl was. Trick or treating with them was, of course, a blast, with my young one laughing most of the time, and the other 2 living it up in the "Free Chocolate" paradise.

Destiny has a plan for all of us.... comeuppance for shit we've been through, so to speak. When Shayne, almost as tall as me, lugged an arm over my shoulder and said "I missed you, Uncle Hughie", Destiny was talking to me. I know this from the lump in my throat I still have.






Ciao

The only thing that could give me cavities is dynamite

Song Of The Moment

So my daughter has a video game liking. Its not really something to be alarmed about. Yes, at times I have to say "Ok, thats enough. Time to do something else.", but I know what I was like as a kid and can understand. Yeah... I have fond memories of video games. Renting Castlevania 2 from the corner store at lunch and playing it all weekend with the lights off. Wanting the "gold" NES Legend of Zelda II so bad, and then ultimately getting it for my birthday. (complete with 'rapid-fire controller', so I could turn the rapid-fire on, leave for an hour and come back to 6 kajillion experience points).

Then, of course, there was MegaMan. My nephew & I would rent it from Videotron, just 5 minutes walk down the road from where we would play it religiously... all weekend, all night. We'd stay up til 2 or 3 in the morning, trying to get past this boss and that boss. Waking up would be "Did you save it?" to be responded "yeah" by me, with what we called "Nintendo-Eye"... where you played Nintendo so long, your eyes blurred and actually hurt and your thumbs were numb...NUMB!

So now, watching my young one play video games, its ok. I don't ban them. I don't fully condone them either though. But, if she looks back on her childhood and remembers her accomplishment at how she figured this puzzle out on this old video game, thats not so bad. Is it?





Ciao

Once there was a way to get back homeward

Song Of The Moment

Somehow stopping time. Then, walking backwards to 1999 and finding myself.
Initial shock of seeing how fresh-faced I look back then over with, I begin to explain all the changes that have happened and will happen.

"Yup, your ex's had 3 guys since you. Yeah, and all of them have rooted for you, man. One of them went as far as to say "You realize, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't be seeing your young one. Your ex really hates you..."

"Oh yeah, thats another thing...your ex?... she hates you. Saying 'hate' doesn't even define it well enough, really. She turned evil. Yep, evil has many forms.... and trust me, man, she's one. You *did*, however, fight her. Took her to court! No lawyer, you ballsy bastard! Just you!"

"Oh, and don't think you're going to be walking alone for long. Nope, pretty soon you'll meet up with your first girlfriend. Actually, she'll pop in and out of your Life a few times in the next few years. AND, you're gonna have a Summer adventure with a new chick. Yeah man, you're gonna have fun with her. (Just don't bring up the word 'threesome' around her, ok?...trust me)"

"And, you're gonna make alot of new friends too. One of them's gonna be your boss though. Do what you want, man...just remember, he's your Boss. Don't take advantage of that situation, for fuck sakes! But, well, even if you do, thats to the best. Hell, if it weren't for you taking advantage of his friendship, you wouldn't have had your Summer adventure.....AND... you wouldn't be where you will be in 7 years! Making more money then you ever have! ... doing what you always said you wanted to do! Yup, you GOT your desk job! No shit, man! AND....(yeah, it gets better) you're doing tech support!"

"Your daughter will grow tall, too. AND SMART! Now, this is the most important thing I want you to hear....and remember. Do NOT stop fighting to see her! You got that?! She is the most important thing in our Life. *You* are her Father. Period. There is nothing more I have to or need to say about that."


Walking forward to 2006 now. Looking back over my shoulder, the expression of mixed shock and happiness has been erased from 1999-me... because he cannot know what is to come. *He* can only hope.... he did hope ... and I stand as a living testimonial to all *he* hoped for coming true.








Ciao

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.

Song Of The Moment

When is enough enough?

Apparently, my daughter came home from school with head lice.
Apparently, my cat had fleas a while back and my young one told my ex-wife at one point about it.
Apparently, my ex-wife's new boyfriend took it upon himself to put 2 and 2 together and make 7, simply stating in his quiant phone message that, "since my daughter has head lice and my cat had fleas, that my house needed to be cleaned spotless before HE would allow her to come over."

Now, I'll admit....I'm a single guy. I vacuum maybe once a week. I have an indoor cat and the litter box area never smells nice. But, to assume that my house was a pigsty, based on the logic of "young one has head lice, my cat had fleas", is something I really, REALLY want a judge to read. Actually, I want the judge to read that I was, once again, denied access...but this time because my ex's new guy doesn't know the simple framework of childhood maladies.

I'm so glad now that I got the police to suggest, requst and then demand for my ex-wife to stop calling my house with her threatening messages about not seeing my young one anymore. Seeing how her boyfriend is working out as a neutral 3rd party brings tears to my eyes.... he's taking up her trade nicely!

So now, my young ones birthday is this weekend. I already have the scheme of how this will go laid out, from my past let-downs and encounters. I will go over to pick her up, Mister Lice-Flea demands to make inspection of my house before she comes over, I state to Mister Flice that he is not welcome in my home until I explain a few things to him, most importantly, that HEAD LICE ARE NOT CONTRACTABLE FROM CAT FLEAS!!! That and, messing around with a court-order is messy business when the other person has done the legal thing before a few times. Flice will tell me she is not coming over and I will then have to undertake the legal process of hiring a lawyer and getting papers done up once again, hoping that this endless cycle of crap will someday stop...






Ciao