Relief for the Holidays

Today, a huge holiday weight was lifted from my shoulders. We had court scheduled for December 30th. The dad filed a motion against me back in 2018, because the kids were not both ready for visits. Within a few months of his filing, both kids started visits. Then, two months later….BAM! Covid hit! The visit center closed, so it was time to use the back up center from our agreement. The dad never initiated visits from that point on.

Today, court was canceled (for now)! The dad did not pay his attorney the retainer fee for a trial. The attorney is planning on filing to relieve himself from the case. There was not enough proof for them to go forward, and the dad had not exercised visits for six months! The dad is now claiming that he has anxiety which prevents him from being able to drive to the visit center! You know what gave me anxiety? Driving down a two lane country road in complete darkness for an hour to get the kids to visits at the last center!

The case may still go to court, but not anytime soon. We are in a holding pattern. The kids and I will keep doing what we are doing, and moving forward. I do have a sadness that the kids have had to live in fear for so long, being the subject of frivolous litigation for years. Once again, the dad’s efforts to hurt me has backfired on him.

In the world of public schools, we all thought that we would go to remote school tomorrow, as the covid cases were just 13 under the threshold. Well, the cases went up by well over a hundred today, but more cases came off the count. We did not have to go remote! A lot of teachers were wallowing in negativity, as they had to spend time and energy preparing for remote learning. I was ready, but I am glad the schools didn’t go remote. I plan to sit on the floor and play games with my students tomorrow. I can’t complain about that part of my job, because it doesn’t feel like work. I struggle more sitting in front of the computer all day than working with the kids.

Stay safe!

~AoA