Changes Are Afoot

It seems like a lifetime has passed since the last time I sat down to write. A quiet evening at home with not much going on, has my fingers itching. Let's see, a lot has been going on. First, the kids and I moved in with my Boo. Without going into a lot of details, my living situation become impossible. Boo and I discussed it and decided the girls and I would move in with him. It's not the perfect situation in the sense that I didn't want to live with a man without being married. I wanted to set an example for my girls. However, when backed into a corner I feel I made the best decision for everyone.

Things have really changed for us since the move. I had been struggling financially for quite a while before the move. That area of my life has improved DRAMATICALLY. What else. Oh, Melissa graduated high school with honors....in three years. She went to summer school last summer and skipped her junior year. Honestly, it took me by surprise. She kept telling me she was going to do it, but I was doubtful.

I have to say that the day she graduated was one of the proudest moments of my life as her mother. I quit school as a young teenager, and so did most of my family. This accomplishment was a big deal for everyone. I walked around in motherly pride, for a couple weeks. It seems to me that if you get all puffed up with motherly pride, something bad is bound to happen, and it did. Because we moved so close to the end of the school year, I didn't want the girls to have to change schools. Melissa became Keri's personal chauffeur for the remainder of the school year. Well almost. 

Then one day a few weeks ago, I got ..THE PHONE CALL. My phone starting buzzing while I was at work. I saw it was Keri, and answered the phone. I hear a very tearful "Mmmooommmmyyyy" on the other end of the phone, followed by silence. "Hello....hello....Keri?" I say. A man gets on the phone and asks me if I know Melissa. I said that I did and she was my daughter. This man (who was the principal of Keri's school) ripped into me. The phone kept breaking up and I couldn't understand everything he said. The gist of it was that Melissa had tried to run over one of the teachers with her car. My Melissa. My Melissa, who hasn't even been grounded since she was fifteen. My Melissa who NEVER gets into trouble. Let me say that Melissa did not try to run over a teacher with her car. That's ridiculous. What she did do, was cuss said teacher. The teacher was trying to hurry Melissa through the carpool line. Melissa was driving slowly, looking for her sister. The teacher kept waving at her and telling her she needed to drive up to the cone. Finally after a few minutes, Melissa says, "I'm trying find my f-ing sister!".

Now, how that got turned into Melissa trying to run her over, I don't know. While I know it was inappropriate of her speak that way to a teacher, it was more inappropriate of that teacher to flat out LIE... and say Melissa tried to hit her with her car. Anyone who knows my daughter, knows she is not an attempted murderess.  Really. OK, maybe she needs her mouth washed out with soap, but let's not get carried away. The principal kept telling me that she was NEVER EVER to set foot on school property AGAIN. He also informed me that he would be filing a petition. A petition? What kind of petition? Parents Against Cussing Teenagers or something? I wondered if maybe he MEANT to say he would be filing charges against her. I thought, "Doesn't he know she just graduated.....with honors....in three years" I thought to myself. Apparently he didn't get that memo.

See what I mean? You go and get all proud and then something like this happens. Oh well. So Melissa is going away to college in the fall. I can't believe it. God  eighteen years went by fast. It has been a little traumatic for me to face having my firstborn fly the coop so to speak. There have been several nights where I laid in bed crying. This is a pain that even Boo can't help. I am so grateful to have him to lean on, but it's still hard. Hard to think of my baby out in the cold, cruel world without me. Hard to think of her living on a college campus, doing things that I am sure I absolutely don't want to know about. Hard to think that she wont be here with us every day. I cannot describe the joy and laughter that girl has brought to my life. She completely changed my life from the day I found about her existence. She really forced me to turn my life around.

Keri is thriving, although the last time I took her to the mall she walked ten feet in front of me. Which spoke volumes to me. It said, "Mom, you are old and uncool, and frankly I don't want to be seen with you. Just fork over your wallet and be on your merry way". Let's recap. Melissa is leaving me and going away to college. Keri now feels that I am the "most embarrassing person alive". That is a direct quote from her Facebook page. Yeah, that's great. Oh well, at least I still have Boo. As he told Melissa Friday night, he finally started liking me last week.