Always Exciting in Dru's World

I want to make an announcement for all of those that have been kind enough to actually look at this blog for the past few months when I have been to busy to post any new news. Please check out http://babydru.blogspot.com/ Thanks DruU

Daughter's First Breakup1

According to my daughter a long term relationship in her school is approximatly one month. I remember those days. I honestly believe that the only reason this break up affected my daughter so much was the situation. The other day I left work early again and made it to the school so I could pick her up before she got on the bus. As I stood infront of the office looking over this wave of short people I noticed my daughter (she is one of the tallest in her school). She was walking towards me with her eyes firmly planted on the ground. Her best friend was walking beside her with the look of concern. My daughter looked up and greeted me with a painful smile. As we walked to the car I asked her what happened at school. Of course I got the mechanical response, "nothin'" "Then what's wrong?" "Tony Dumped me." she said with a crack in her voice that told me she was about to cry. I knew then my busy plans for that night were changed. The car ride was quiet, she didn't speak. Then she noticed that I turned the wrong way, "where are we going. "You'll see, you need some breakup medication." We pulled up in front of a Mom & Pop shop in the tiny town next to ours. We walked in and she actually started to look around for the medicine ilse. I said, "its back here." We walked into the back where there is an old counter sat on stools and I looked at the man behind the counter. "Two Chocolate shakes, bad break up moment." The man gave a little smirk and went to the back kitchen. When he returned he handed the largest milk shake I have ever seen to my daughter and said, "it heals the heart" then placed a small Milkshake in front of me and said, "the large is on the house." Although my daughter has never been to this place I am there every morning on my way to work. Bobby, the man behind the counter, has heard about my daughter almost every week day for the past 6 months. After a couple of ice cold sips my daughter told me a tragic story of pain, suffering and betrayal. I sat there listening and secretly thought, "boy are horrible creatures, but girls are just down right mean." I will have to explain this whole story someday but as for now it has snowballed into splitting a school in half and two fathers getting called to the Principals office. The good news, after my daughter finished her milk shake and told me this horrible story, she got up with a huge smile gave me a hug and said, "I am so glad you will let me talk to you about this."

Daughter's first Boyfriend

Friday my daughter stayed after school since the school was showing a movie. She is in Middle School and she has been growing up way to fast this year. I left work early and decided it would be fun to go pick her up and then go out for an Ice Cream cone before we picked up her little sister from Day Care. I make sure that there are those little moments that the two of us can sit down and talk without the interruption of her 3 year old sister looking for my attention. So I walk into the Auditorium and look among the mass of 11-14 year old in this huge room. I couldn't see he and thought it was no big deal (there were a lot of kids) Then my eye caught her best friend. She was sitting just a few rows in front of me and was with a big crowd of kids joking and having fun, they definitely didn't care if there was a movie there. I scanned the smaller group and sure enough there was still no sign of my daughter. Then I did a double take, there she was, right next to her best friend. She has a favorite sweatshirt, or Hoody I think they call them, she always wears it. There it was, how could I miss her? Well this whole time I was looking for this beautiful young girl with 2 arms and 1 head, I was not looking for the kid with one head on someone else's shoulder. I was not looking for a boy with his arm around my daughter. I was not looking for this boy that was holding my daughter like she was the most valuable possession he has owned. I will admit at first my blood was boiling over, I could not believe what I was seeing, then the humor set in. I know none of her friends saw me so I grabbed my camera phone and tried to sneak up a little closer. It was to dark I had this image of snapping a picture of this and sending it to every relative we have. I just couldn't get the picture, well here I was standing right behind one of her friends that was right behind my daughter, look there, its an empty seat. I quickly tapped her friend on the shoulder and gave her the signal to be quiet. Sat down next to her and started watching the movie. Her friend leaned over and whispered, "Tony asked her out today." I quickly responded, "I see that," with a little grin on my face. I was sitting there in this group of my daughters friends trying to think of something that I could do to embarrass her. I could have thought all day long and I would have never came up with something good enough. So I leaned over to her friend and said, "just tell her I will be up there waiting." On my way up towards the school lobby one of my daughters teachers stopped me. so I sat there and talked with him for a few minutes and was taking glimpses of my daughter and her new boyfriend. Then all of a sudden it felt like I was jumped on by a Linebacker in the Super Bowl. It was my daughter, I guess she noticed I was there. She jumped on me and wrapped her arms around me and said, "Tony asked me out." Of course I had the same reply, "I noticed, and again I had this grin. At this time I looked at where my daughter was sitting and I see this 13 year old boy sneaking away very quickly. After telling my daughter I was waiting until the movie was over and then I would take her home, she gave me another hug and then went to sit down again. "Wow, not to many daughters would be excited to tell their father they have a new boyfriend," her teacher said to me. "Yeah, I know" I said as I thought about every major milestone I have seen her go though, and realized this was the next one.

How to Become a Single Father

I remeber before my world travels began sitting at the local coffee shop with a friend gettin my dose of caffine before going to babysit my neice. Although I was still in my teens I never had enough energy to chase a two year old girl around the house. My brother was proudly wearing the military uniform at the time sitting somewhere in Asia so I felt it was my responsiblity to babysit his daughter so her mother could have an adult conversation every once in awhile. My friend was getting his caffine fix so he could go to the rock quarry over the border in Pennsylvania. "That sucks you have to babysit, this is going to be the party of the year." "I don't mind, Deb is going to come over after Tiny T is asleep." Tina was my brother Tony's daughter, for some reason my family was always called by initials, I don't even think my best friend even knew the name my parents gave me untill the year after graduation. "Aww, how sweet," the sarcastic jeer that I was expecting came a little slower than I was actually thinking it would, the caffine probably did't hit Brian yet. "Are you and Deb going to play house tonight?" "If I am lucky we will have a good time." Being a seventeen year old boy was difficult enough but throw in the fact that I spent the only Friday night off babysitting my neice really took a notch out of my social standing. No one cared of course when I usually did this because I usually got paid a case of beer that we would drink on Saturday. "Dude, you are going to be a perfect parent someday." "My goal in life is to raise my children. Unfortunatly that means I will have to put up with a woman all the time." Everyone I knew understood that I loved hanging out with kids. Mainly because I never wanted to grow up and always liked having an excuse to go see the newest childrens movie at the theater. It was creapy if I said, "hey Deb you want to go see The Little Mermaid?" I would never get a weird look if I said, "I want to take my neice to see "The Lion King" you want to go?" I was a Senior in High School and spent half my school day doing my practical at the Elementary school next door. I was already excepted into college for early childhood education. Whenever I wasn't in school or working I usually had my neice with me.

After a couple more cups of coffee I said bye to my friend and headed to my babysitting duties. This was soon going to be a night that I would never forget.

Discrimination against the Single Father

I think women should have the same opportunities as men, Raising two daughters I have come to the belief that women are smarter and more able at a lot of things than men. I also believe that men should have the same opportunities as women, Children raised by a man should be treated the same as children treated as women. I recently went to court the other day for Child Support, Again... It has now been 18 months since I was granted custody of my youngest daughter. We have Joint Custody with Primary Physical custody awarded to me. Since there are 4 states between us there is no everyother weekend visitation it all goes off of seperating holidays and school vacation. 18 months without child support, 18 months of paying for a 3 bedroom apartment so each of my daughters has their own personnal space. 18 months of $700 per month in Pre School and Daycare tuitions = Thats $12600... For Court we both had to do Financial Paperwork and according to that and research of how the state figures out child support I have come up with the figure that she should be paying is $1200/month. I am asking the court to provide me Child Support of $1000 per month to help cover Daycare, Preschool, gymnastics and Figureskating costs. I have been turned down four times. Well I will take that back. I haven't been turned down, I have been told that we need to pospone another month for the past 5 months. Will I ever get child support? The Ex-wifes lawyer is good at one thing, posponements. I have been told, She should not have to pay since she lives so far away and she has to pay phone bills, and travel costs to see her daughter. My answer, She is the one that moved so far away. I have been called a loser because I am trying to take money from a woman and a man should be able to make enough to provide all the great things a child needs. This last time, her lawyer actually got up in court and said that I do not deserve this money because I should be able to get a higher paying job as an Information Technology Professional. My answer to this, She is on TV every night working for a major network, She will make a lot more than me. I might get offers making almost 2 times what I make now but those would cause me to travel, move or work very long hours. I work 80 hours every 2 weeks, that is it, no more no matter what. To me that is neccesity so I have all that off time to spend with my daughters. The latest job I was offered was 3 times what I make now but it would have made me move to New York City, at least 50 hours a week and on average 6-10 days a month out of town. Now either way, I am a parent of a little girl that wants to learn Figure Skating, I had to pull her out of the classes so I could pay my electric bill. I am a parent and I make all my decisions 100% with my daughters in mind. I do not deserve to get child support because I am a father? When you go to family court it is usually very stressful anyway. When you go as a father you are the most sterotypical, Dead beat, tempermental, abusive man that anyone has met. Getting custody is a major accomplishment and you can tell a lot about a mother if the court grants custody to the father, look at Britney. But as soon as the custody is over you are back in the courts eyes for a worthless loser that just wants to screw the ex-wife over. Why don't women have to pay child support?

Dead Beat Parents

Another Holiday season come and gone. Another gift giving time where my daughter axiously awaits the package that her mother promised and another disappointing time for my daughter. "Maybe it is lost in the mail" "Maybe she couldn't send it because she had to much school work." "Maybe she couldn't afford to send it, she does have 2 other children dad" These are the reasons she has come up with this year. 10 years of this crap and I can not understand how this girl can sit here and wait time and time again. No phone call, no card, nothing... I found her mother on myspace, what a wonderful sight. A woman with a child she has seen 2 times in the past 10 years. Two children with her current husband that is serving in Iraq and here is her Myspace. The Profile picture, her making out with a guy on the couch. You would think it would be a picture of the husband that is serving the country in Iraq, YOU WOULD BE WRONG!!! This is some 20 year old guy who in her words, "Would give up everything to have more babies with." Why does my daughter have such an image of this woman? How I wish I could show these pictures to my daughter and say, "This is the woman that gave birth to you, do not think she is the perfect woman." I vowed the day the divorce was final that I would never talk bad about the mother of my child, I would never hurt the image of this woman that gave birth to my beautiful daughter. Why is this woman making it so hard for me to keep this promise? Please help me figure out what to do? Please let me hear your story about the dead beat parent in your childrens lives. Let me know I am not the only one out there that has these issues with the egg/sperm donor in your childrens lives.

The Smoking Challenge

Sometimes I am just amazed at my oldest daughter. One of the gifts I received this year might be the most thoughtful gift I have ever recieved. My daughter is now 11 and of course in school she has learned how bad smoking is to you and the dangers of smoking. I am not sure how she came up with this stuff but when I was opening presents this year for Christmas she had wraped a package and what was inside made me feel a lot of emotions. All at once I felt happiness, love, pride, and most of all Fear. She had made this present from her heart that was for sure and the first thing I saw was a note,

Dad, I love you but this present is for your daughters.

So I continued on though a small package. The next thing I saw in the package was a Contract already signed by my Oldest Daughter and a Scribble Mark from my youngest. There was a space on the contract for me to sign. This Contract said that I would try to quit smoking on Monday, January 7, 2008. On this day I will allow my daughter to throw away all my cigarettes, Lighters, Ashtrays and anything else she believes causes me to smoke.

After I read though it I noticed that there was a pen in this little package and some 3x5 cards. There were little things on the cards that my daughter wrote. "Dad, I want you to see me Graduate from High School." and "'Dad, I want you to see me go to my Prom.' 'Dad, I want you to see me get married.' 'Dad, I want my children to know you.' 'Dad, we Love you.'"

This brought the tears, I quickly grabbed the pen and signed the contract. I am looking forward to January 7th, 2008. I feel it is going to be a great year.

I wonder if she read this Blog!

Dru the Early Years

After getting a chance to talk to my Elementary School Best friend this weekend my mind started bringing up a lot of memories of my childhood. One of the conversations that we had was about our adventures. We lived in a development of boxes that all looked the same just different colors. I am sure if I was to look at it now from an adult view I would see the robotic view of parents leaving in the morning and parents coming home at night. I am sure that the most interesting thing that my parents ever saw while living in one of those dupicate development houses is the time the house about a mile away blew up and we could see it from the porch. But as a child in that neighbor hood it was adventure after adventure. We were discussing this weekend the long trips into other worlds that we would see without a thought to the rest of the world. It didn't matter if it was sitting in the tree in the back yard or if we followed "Rock Cliff" then passed "Root 2 Path" for hours and ended up in the middle of a forest that to us was a aventureland that know explorers have ever seen before. But looking back now it is hard to believe that this small amount of land that was surrounded by these duplicate houses held so much potential for excitement. Although over 20 years have gone by since the last time I explored that area I can garuntee that me and my child hood friends have seen more in those woods than anyone else has since. I actually can close my eyes and take a tour of this land that was our home. from the "Gateway" across the street to the cliff on the other side. There were 4 of us that traveled that land with nothing more than an imagination and a pair of shoes. but as soon as we would leave JD's backyard and cross though the gateway we were all alone in the world. There were terrifying slips on the rock cliff there were times we just couldn't climb the mud on the step trail. These were the moments that team work was important. We had our own little aspect in the group that would assist each other though the bad times. The Brains that would provide a plan for any situation. The Conscience that would not allow us to do the completely stupid and kept us from getting into trouble. The Brawn that could muscle the team though it all. The Leader, the one that would come up with the great ideas of where to go and we would follow for days if we had to. The four of us had the perfect team, everyone had their part but we all had the one common factor that made the team work, We all loved to explore.

Relationships thought Lost

I have to tell the story of a very important relationship that I thought was dead, I have always thought of this person and talked about him so much with my children that they know who he is just by the type of story I am telling. When I was born my father was in the Air Force and we moved around until I was 4 years old. He finally got out of the Military and got a job in New York. I was scared to move from my friends in California to New York. We moved to our new house and I quickly found out that the new next door neighbor was also 4 years old. Most of this is from what my parents told me since I really do not remember to much of those days. To me I think I met Brian when we went to look at the house before we moved into it. We would do absolutly everything together. He would come to my house and play with my toys until we got bored then we would go to his house and play with his toys until we got bored. There was always something for us to do. Even when we were bored we had fun together. There were other kids our age in the neighborhood and we would play with them and hang out with them also but they would have to go home and me and Brian would still be there. While we were growing up we were totally different people with different goals in life. We were brought up with totally different backgrounds, different religions, different customs, and different opportunities. But for some reason we were still best friends. Until, something changed. I am going to blame Girls and Sports, but I am sure it was my own immaturity that caused us to grow apart. I was getting into the Partying scene and Brian was still the Great student. By the time we reached High School I was Drinking, Smoking, doing things that would cause most parents to keep their kids away from me. Brian was in the Math Club, Debate team, Physics club, etc... Until one day we would only say high when passing in the hall. My senior year I moved out of the house I grew up in. I was still in the same school but with work, after school sports, and after school parties I never saw Brian. He was in the Classes for the "smart" kids while I was in the classes for the "Lets see if we can get him to graduate" kids. On graduation day I remember seeing Brian walk up to get his diploma and thought, "Wow I miss hanging out with him." Years went by with failed College, Military moving, kids, and all the great things life brings and I never heard from Brian again. Every once and awhile I would find an email address and send him a couple of notes. But then Life would happen again and I would go a couple awhile before I could catch up with him again. This weekend Brian was in town. He warned me in advance that he was going to come and visit his family. I was so excited that I was going to see him again now that we have both seen life and have our own families. Saturday, I woke up and was planning on meeting him for Coffee, I was nervous that now that he has Dr. in front of his name and I am just your average Joe walking around this world not contributing a thing. As soon as Me and my daughter walked into the Coffee shop I felt like a kid again, I was so happy to see Brian, it felt like we were friends all along and this was the same kid that I watched learn how to ride a bike. We sat their and talked for awhile but we both had things to do and my daughter was not having to much fun with the two old guys talking about the days before there was a computer in every house, and what is this Record thing... So we decided it was time to go. The next day his sister and her family flew in and we made plans to meet them at my parents house. It was unbelievable that I was sitting at my Mothers dinning room table with two people that I ate with almost everyday many years ago. A visit that was suppose to last for an hour soon turned into 3 and just like minutes it was time for them to leave. As I watched Brian and his sister drive away I realized that this is a relationship that made me the person I am today. This was my best friend for so long that that his friendship made an impression on me and helped me though some rough times in life, even if it was not there at the time. I am a better person for knowing this man when he was younger and I am very proud of what he has done in his life. I now understand that a relationship that I thought was once lost now has the opportunity to be grown again.

Entertainment for All

I have been told by many friends and family lately that I need to write a book. I have seen a lot and dealt with a lot in my life that I guess is very entertaining to others. I have a hard time understanding why but then I read an article about Briteny Spears getting drug tests on her sons to prove that He Ex is smoking Marijuana around them. I guess since that is headline news for the rest of the country my life could be considered entertaining. I am not confident that I can do this story of Dru any justice at the moment since my writing skill are not that great and I am kind of Biased on most topics about my life. There is one thing though my stories that I would like to emphasis to my readers. My brother calls me lucky but I call it faith. I understand very little about the world we live in and the universe that this world is a part of. I know that having faith that things will work out usually means it will work out. I am not sure if the paths I have choosen in life were those of faith guiding me or just blind luck but for my sanity at this moment I am going to say it all has to do with faith. I will post soon the first story of Dru... Keep a look out.

Momma's Boy, Insult?

Post Moved To http://druutopia.com/Joomla/content/view/12/1/

This years Gifts for my daughter... I am Broke

Recently Divorced and raising my two children on my own without child support from their mothers I am having a hard time coming up with christmas presents for them this year. My older daughter has toured the world with me living in apartments all over the US and Europe but we have never had a place that was "ours" This year I bought a house and my daughter has been upset with me because I have taken the smaller bedroom but it has a walk in closet. She is also upset that I have not allowed her to paint her room yet. Her whole life she has wanted to choose the color of her room but because of the apartment rental aggrements we were never allowed to pain. This year when my daughter wakes up there is going to be a ribbon and bow accross my bedroom door. There will be a card that says, "I am sorry the elves didn't get to make the toys you asked for this year so we helped your father move to the spare bedroom so you can have this one." She will open the door and see that my bedroom has been completely emptied out and there will be a few presents in the middle of the floor. When she gets the presents opened she will see a couple of cans of paint, a few paint brushes and a paint roller. Christmas afternoon I am going to send her to her grandmothers and when she gets back her new room will have a fresh coat of pain. Next year, New Carpet...

Cinderella's Dad?

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella. There are a few things about the story that I would like clarification on. 1. What happened to Cinderella's Father? I know he died, but how? 2. Do you think her father knew what Cinderella's step mother was really like? 3. Do you think her father treated her better than her step sister's? These are very important questions in the story. How manipulative was her step mother? Was she actually able to hide her hate from her husband? Was Cinderella's father a good father and protect his daughter? Was he able to show love to the children in his family that were not his blood? makes you wonder...

Being a single father

I was a single father from the time my daughter was 21 months until I remarried when she was 6. I then had another daughter and after the divorce I am now a single father again of two daughters, 11 and 3. I am surprised at how many programs and help a single mother can get but there is very little out there offered to me and my daughters. When I was younger and had a 21 month old I was also very poor. I went to the local WIC office and when I asked if I could apply I was told, "Its WOMEN, Infants and Children." After a few weeks of letters to higher people in the organization and a couple of weeks I was told that I would be able to get WIC benefits for my daughter. That helped out a little. Then came the battle of Child Support. I was working full time in an area that I had no relatives and payed almost half my paycheck for daycare. adparams.getadspec('c_billboard1'); The court ordered my daughters mother to pay me child support. After a year of not receiving any I decided it was time to press the issue. I ended up getting in touch with the child support enforcement organization in the county and asked them what was going on. I knew that there were laws that said a parent will lose their drivers license if they do not pay child support. I was told, "She is a mother of another child and since her husband in the military she is the primary care giver of that child. We can not take her drivers license away or she would not be able to get her other child to doctors appointments or get groceries." It was soon after this that I joined an organization that was fighting for fathers rights. But unfortunatly I was a father with custody and wasn't really what they were there for. 9 years later I still have not received any child support. Now lets jump to two years ago, I received primary physical custody of my younger daughter after the divorce. I live in one state and my ex-wife lives in another. My Daughter was 23 months old at the time. I have been trying to get child support for the past year and do to Paperwork problems or my ex-wife contesting the court child support decisions have been getting put on hold for this time. So I am now raising my daughters as a single father with one income, over $600 a month in daycare costs. I have to take vacation days every time they have a doctors appointment and I just found out that I need to come up with $5000 for braces on my oldest. It is now christmas time so I asked the Orthodontist if it would be possible to gift wrap the braces since I have $45 to buy christmas presents this year. So I have been a Single father in the late 90's and after a short break with some help I am now a single father a decade later. I no longer need to worry about it but when my oldest daughter was in Diapers the biggest proble I had was finding a place in public to change the Diaper. There were many times I would go to the manager of a store because there was not a Diaper changing table in the mens bathroom. After Diapers I would get funny looks when I would walk into a mens bathroom with a little girl in pig tails so she could use the rest room, more time than I can count I would have to leave because the bathroom was disgusting so I wouldn't let my daughter sit on the toilet. I have noticed this second time around that more mens bathrooms have diaper changing tables, I know this is something little but to me it is a huge battle against the stereotype of Men. We also take care of our children. On the opposite side of things I still have a hard time getting support from either of the mothers. I can not stand hearing how much bigger their house is than mine and I really hate the fact that my children come home from a visit and talk about thier trip to an amusement park. Here I am shopping at the Salvation Army, eating mac and cheese with hot dogs. All I can think is how much better my daughters lives would be with a couple of mothers that would actually help me.

Fear of a Dad

Last night I got home after work and my daughter ran to me and gave me a Huge Hug. This is normal but she held on a little longer this time. I said, "How was school." To make a long story short she said School was good, until the bus ride home. The School district is pretty far out in the country and she takes an hour bus ride each way. Because of this Middle School and High School share a bus. My daughter does have enough Common sense to let the High Schoolers sit in the back and her and her friends sit in the front. Well yesterday the Bus was full and she was unable to sit in the front. Her and her best friend had to sit in the back of the bus with the high schoolers. This is pretty scary to a 6th grader to begin with. I guess what happened next would have scared any woman and make any father ready to put a fist in a teenagers face. There were two high school boys on the bus in the seat infront of them. One of them pulled out a package of Condoms. Started Asking my daughter and friend if they knew what they were. So of course being that they are getting taught about Condoms in school they said yes. Well I guess one of the boys said, "Well, we use them for when we **** 6th graders on the back of the bus." Needless to say the two girls were sitting there scared to death for the whole hour of the bus ride. Scared to say anything and scared to move. I swear I am so ****ing pissed right now I am in the mood to torture these two boys. Of course trying to be the Adult that I am I have called the Principal of my daughters school, the principal of the High School and the Manager of the Bus Garage. They now know the boys names and will call me when they decide what they are going to do... I just want them in a room with my Daughters friends Father (Stereotypical Harley Davidson Rider, Don't think he owns clothes that aren't Leather) Just so we can put the fear in them that they put in our daughters.

Man in a Womens World

I am a Single father, therefore there are things I have to do that most fathers do not do. One thing I have to do is go to Girl Scouts and participate where I am 99.9% of the time the only father there. That is one example but I do find myself in situations where I am a man in what seams a Womens world. I know I am snesitive and can relate to a lot of women. I am a man raising two Girls. Braiding Hair and playing with Barbie is what I have to do. I understand that. But please remember I am a MAN. I do not want to sit there and listen to how your sex life is boring. I do not want to hear how your husband is inadequate. I will not get married again. Not because I hate marriage, I actually think it is amazing to be married, I now know what women say behind their husbands backs. I know that society believes that Men are the "Dogs" and all they think about is sex. I have news for you I have never heard so many outlandish conversations in my life. Women not only talk about sex constantly but they understand that they can get what ever they want. They play us men like you wouldn't believe. I love women I really do and there are a lot of times that I have fun hanging out with the "Moms." But I get to the point where they consider me one of the women and tell me things I do not have a need to know. Of course, there is the curiosity that gets me. I get pulled aside because I am a "safe man" to talk to. I get the women that want a mans opinion on things. The answer I have to the most popular problem, "If your husband wants to spend time with you, it is probably because he loves you, and wants to spend time with you." Very rarely is it just because he wants to smother you. If you are bored with your husband in bed, Experiment with him. Do not complain to your friends. Talk to him and teach him where you want to be touched. Everything has to do with communication. The way I see it is if you can talk to me after a Girl Scout meeting you should be able to talk to your husband about it.

Kids and Cars

I have never thought this would happen but it is true I agree with Senator Clinton. Please check out this link http://www.kidsandcars.org/ My best friend lost her son at age 7 less than a year ago. They lived on the same street as the Elementary school. He was walking down the sidewalk when an SUV backing out of the driveway next door to the house ran him over. Colin was a great kid and I miss my XBOX buddy. This was a death that could have been prevented and didn't need to happen. I know a lot of you will not agree with the Marijuana issue I always talk about but please get with your state Senator and help Kidsandcars.org make it safer for children. None of us that knew Colin will ever be the same but it compares nothing to his parents. Colin, seeing the Halloween stuff in the stores breaks my heart. I can't believe it has almost been a year. You are thought of all the time by a lot of people. Drew

Encourage those Kids

My mother stopped by the house early this morning. She got here in time for Pet hour. Pet hour is an hour every morning in my house where we all gang up on our pets. One walks the dog while the other cleans the Rabbit cage while the other cleans the kitty litter box, Then we move on to changing the Iguana cage and feed the fish. Then we count the mice for the snake while we clean that cage and the snake cage. My mom said, "Do you think you have enough pets?" My oldest has loved animals since the day she was born. She did not have dolls that she played with she had stuffed animals. When she was 5 I took her to the pet shop and told her to get anything she wanted (I wanted a puppy). She went over and picked out a baby Iguana. I told my mom that as long as my daughter with our help can take care of the animals in our family and show love to them all we will not worry about having to many. My daughter is now 11 years old and takes care of all the animals except during Pet Hour when we all pitch in. The Iguana that is now 5 feet long Loves to crawl up on the couch with me. I am still amazed that the Rabbit is trained to goto the kitty litter box when it has to go to the bathroom. I am amazed that when I call the cats name she comes running. These animals are not only loved by my daughter but they are all well behaved and trained. They all get along (Except the snake and the Mice). What My mom does not realize is although we have a lot of pets, my daughter needs the outlet. Having a daughter that is supposedly ADHD but has a father that will not put her on medication, She needs an outlet for her energy. Since I have been laxed on the pet thing and let her enjoy all these animals in the house her grades have improved dramatically. Her ability to make friends has improved. I also believe that her Ability to care for anyone is because she is learning to show love to the animals therefore able to show love to other people. I am so proud of My daughter.

Two years and My Daughter is still Scared

I broke a date this weekend... It would have been my first date since my divorce 2 years ago. (Yes I am pathetic) I sat my daughter down and talked to her about my date. I explained how I met this lady and what we were going to do. My daughter started to cry. Now she is 11 years old. I am a firm believer of never lying to my daughter. The truth I tell her is more in depth than the Truth I tell her half-sister who is 8 years younger. When I explained everything to her she cried and said she didn't want a step mother again. My divorce was the case of Step mom abusing my daughter. My kids are number one to me and she was upset that she wasn't number 1 so she would abuse my daughter. I tried to explain to my daughter that it was just a date and it wouldn't end up in marriage. She didn't care. So I broke the date. Am I being a wuss? Should I have not told her what I was doing? Should I have said, "Deal with it I am going?" I put my kids in front of a lot of things in my life and I am very happy doing that. But 2 years without a date is really starting to stress me out...