Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Wednesday Morning~~
Slept in late today, no ambition at all. I feel like laying in bed all day, but that is strictly against my code...must come the german/dutch half of me.."you will work! you will be productive!". Causes a bit of a problem with the italian side, that would prefer to loll about, sipping wine, listening to music, with a manyana laissez faire.
Anonymous, Kari, Amadeaus...your comments on my concerns with J,..what can i say? Wise perspectives from three different sources..Pretty ironic, too, because i had contemplated sending J. to his father for a couple of weeks before the move...so he could have some closure, and also to let him see what his life COULD be like..Then yesterday, got a phone from my ex-brother in law...We haven't spoken since last Christmas, when i called them for the holiday. Seems G. (the ex) has continued his downward spiral..renting a room in a house somewhere, cell phone disconnected. Still drinking everyday,driving that way, too, even with all his health problems. Still leaving a trail of broken promises. My ex-brother in law called to say he loved me and the kids, and to apologise for thinking i was "the bad guy" that hurt his brother, when he realizes now it wasn't true. Bittersweet, because i have been too busy raising the boys myself to even care what they thought of me.All i know is, leaving J. with him now is not an option.
Change comes from within, and just moving away doesn't mean that your problems don't come with you. I am taking a very calculated risk; in moving i plan to grab my pruninig shears and ruthlessly cut off the suckers and dead wood from J.s life. I will no longer work the 11 hour days that keep me absent now,and i will give him structure and support to build a new life. I will expose him to the beauty of the sea,surrounded by healthy male role models in his uncles and cousin. After that, it is his choice..for we do indeed journey alone through this life, each of us ultimately on our own path..The bottom line, for me, is that i must, i will, try.Later...

2 comments:

Blap said...

i have missed you so.
i feel the excitment of a new start bubbling up in the words that you click out on your 2nd hand keyboard-
Try try try again huh?
xxx
good advice~

Anonymous said...

On second thought, if your ex is that far into the bottle, don't send your son J to stay with him, he is already lost, and the two won't help each other at all.
Take him with you and do your best, but it will cost you your personal life to get J's on course. I only hope he one day sees the sacrafice you made for him.
I think more nuturing and love will only feed his ego, and that somewhere along the road (in the far future) life will catch up to his judgemental attitude and slam him down, and he'll willingly jump back into his dark hole that he will have carried with him all the while (but by then it will be well furnished with a bar and bad habits on tap and a permanent chair for his mother).I don't know what kind of reality its going take to shake him free of that defeatist mentality, part of it may be that he is just a teenager, but life and opportunity will not wait for him to grow out of it.Perhaps more positive male role models in his life might help, but finding good ones are far and few between. Its so sad its going to take up the rest of your life ,just to get his back on track. But don't be surprised if he quits being a part of the "evil" life (that the rest of us live) gives up and turns out like his father, too bad he hadn't experienced more of that drunked defeatist attitude in his past, that he might have chosen to avoid it in his future. But he will always have his mothers unconditional love to fall back on whats left of it.
I have a girlfriend in what I see as a similar situation and basically the quotes I hear are " I love you Mom, I'm sorry, now fuckoff and get me another beer" they all laugh and she says "at least he still loves me" shes almost 60 now and hes 27, her 3rd child and the "baby" of the family (I hate that justification)and of course single.Her other 2 children have grown up and moved out fairly normally, but he will be with her for the rest of her life, but she loves him and it keeps her from being lonely.(and her cats) Shes devoted her whole life to this "little" one, and hes going to see that he takes every drop of it. Why are we women so willing to give up so much in return for so little so often? I thank God everyday that I was blessed with 2 girls and a husband with self control and only a few bad habits.(Maybe I was lucky that I had a strict father and 3 wild brothers)? Don't let yourself love him to death. your death.