Dear Diary

Well, B arrived back from Houston last evening and the laundry is already overflowing.  Away for three weeks visiting his daughter, son-in-law and grands, he returned with a workload I had not missed in the least.

I used to go too, but as you and I both know, Diary, his daughter and I are estranged, which means my step-grandchildren no longer know me.  That's a shame, my friend, because I am worth knowing.  We are estranged because she had the colossal nerve to bring her mother to our sacred, family cottage -- the cottage we shared as a blended family of six for 25 years.  (See "How could you," July 29, 2018)

I was understandably enraged.  That's when we fell out.

This is how I am now portrayed -- the wicked stepmother.

Of course, it's all about money.  The mother has lots, we don't.  That's the draw she commands.  Ironically enough, much of her money we had to give her in the divorce and custody settlement, even though she is the millionaire.  How we kept paying support when we had the kids the majority of the time, I will never understand?  "That's the judicial attitude," our lawyer said when I asked why she didn't pay us child support.

I raised this daughter.  In fact, B's kids' mother should send me a Mother's Day card every year.  You're welcome.  Remember, Diary, how I went to battle with the Ottawa School Board to make sure she got her bilingual high school diploma?  They were saying she was a credit short, so I dug around and found a summer school credit, which they gave her, which ensured she got her diploma.  And that diploma?  That diploma got her the job at Disney in Florida the Hyatt Hotel in Calgary, where she met her husband.  The rest, as they say, is history.

None of that would have happened, had I not intervened.  You know, Diary, my anger is also rooted in hurt -- that and a touch of self-pity, I admit.  But that didn't stop me from insisting B visit his grands in Houston, a visit I also paid for.  And speaking of money, do you think it's right for B to give her hundreds of dollars for his keep while he is there?

I don't either.

The fact is, he will never see his grands again because a solo trip to Houston at his age is now out-of-the-question.  And daughter's maternal inheritance rules out any chance she will visit here.  She has been either overtly or covertly warned that any alliance to B means a change to her will.  Happens all the time.  Wonder if daughter will come to his funeral?  Probably only to the committal in Ottawa -- as long as it coincides with a visit to Mummy.

Well, he's back and our "normal" is returning, which reminds me, I better get at that laundry! 

Back to the future.