Well, time for a much needed update on all things Canman.
Since we last met life has had some interesting developments. With the start of the school year, Katrina moved out with her kids. My place is a 3 bedroom, one storey, 1340 sq ft townhouse with no basement, no garage. Already full of my shit before Katrina and her daughter, Breanna, moved in. Now with her son Zack, all the bedrooms were in use, and we had no "junk" room, nor any place for me to dry out my sweaty hockey gear, nor keep my library. She rented a place about 5 minutes away, so seeing each other was not a problem, but going back to "dating" after living together was just weird. At first I thought it might be the end of us over time. After a week of this, I went to Winnipeg for a wedding and was gone for a week. During that time, she came to realize that she missed having me in the same home and realized that this living apart, albeit close by, totally sucked. Which I knew it would the second she told me she was moving out. As soon as I got home I began the slow process of moving into her place. Since I own my place, and it will take time to sell - gotta finish a few things first, we've not hurried and 4 weeks later are still in transit.
Zack's ex-girlfriend had the baby 2 weeks ago (see an earlier blog entry). They waited 2 whole days to inform us. Things have not gone well between our 2 families and I won't get into details, but there has been some question of paternity, etc. They have now come back to us and said they don't want anything to do with us, or us with this kid - and require no financial support from us. Since Zack's relationship with this girl and her family have been nothing but toxic (these people are the worst sort of trash) and we don't know if the kid is his without a paternity test, and since Zack has only just turned 15 (and not remotely ready for parenthood), we see this as a major bullet dodged. If only for now. As much as it hurts Zack and Katrina not to be in the life of their own child/grandchild, we feel these people are going to ruin this child like they ruined Zack's ex, whatever we try to do about it; and we think the price of having to deal with these people just to be in this child's life will be too high for Zack. Their effect on him over the last 6 months has been unbelievable.
So other than the fact we're paying to keep up 2 homes, things seem to be progressing in a positive manner. Zack is settling in here nicely and even has a girlfriend here, though given his history, this development scares Katrina and I a little bit. We hope he's learned from his past and doesn't repeat it. I'm more a father to him than his own ever has been. Unlike his father, we put limits on his activities and behaviors. Example: Zack went back to his dad's for the last weekend before school, supposedly to go camping - he ended up spending the weekend in the camper in the driveway. With a girl. And yes the had sex. Did his father know? HE DROVE HER HOME!!! What a douche. Katrina has full custody, and though she won't deny Zack's father access, she has decided Zack is never going back there. Not after that. If Zack's dad want's to see Zack, he'll have to come up here. Period, end of list.
In other news, as of about 3 weeks ago, Katrina is off RFT, a kind of preliminary probation, where she could not operate alone. Now she can and gets a huge raise. She is now considered a full member of the RCMP, but has another 18 months probation to go. My job still sucks, but I like most of my co-workers and I am coping with it better. Like Billy Crystal's character said at the end of City Slickers, "I'm not going to quit my job, I'm just going to do it better."
Well, that's it for now. I may post some picks from the wedding - it was a Scottish one, so there was a piper and 6 (including me) in kilts. If I can get around to it, that is...
Since we last met life has had some interesting developments. With the start of the school year, Katrina moved out with her kids. My place is a 3 bedroom, one storey, 1340 sq ft townhouse with no basement, no garage. Already full of my shit before Katrina and her daughter, Breanna, moved in. Now with her son Zack, all the bedrooms were in use, and we had no "junk" room, nor any place for me to dry out my sweaty hockey gear, nor keep my library. She rented a place about 5 minutes away, so seeing each other was not a problem, but going back to "dating" after living together was just weird. At first I thought it might be the end of us over time. After a week of this, I went to Winnipeg for a wedding and was gone for a week. During that time, she came to realize that she missed having me in the same home and realized that this living apart, albeit close by, totally sucked. Which I knew it would the second she told me she was moving out. As soon as I got home I began the slow process of moving into her place. Since I own my place, and it will take time to sell - gotta finish a few things first, we've not hurried and 4 weeks later are still in transit.
Zack's ex-girlfriend had the baby 2 weeks ago (see an earlier blog entry). They waited 2 whole days to inform us. Things have not gone well between our 2 families and I won't get into details, but there has been some question of paternity, etc. They have now come back to us and said they don't want anything to do with us, or us with this kid - and require no financial support from us. Since Zack's relationship with this girl and her family have been nothing but toxic (these people are the worst sort of trash) and we don't know if the kid is his without a paternity test, and since Zack has only just turned 15 (and not remotely ready for parenthood), we see this as a major bullet dodged. If only for now. As much as it hurts Zack and Katrina not to be in the life of their own child/grandchild, we feel these people are going to ruin this child like they ruined Zack's ex, whatever we try to do about it; and we think the price of having to deal with these people just to be in this child's life will be too high for Zack. Their effect on him over the last 6 months has been unbelievable.
So other than the fact we're paying to keep up 2 homes, things seem to be progressing in a positive manner. Zack is settling in here nicely and even has a girlfriend here, though given his history, this development scares Katrina and I a little bit. We hope he's learned from his past and doesn't repeat it. I'm more a father to him than his own ever has been. Unlike his father, we put limits on his activities and behaviors. Example: Zack went back to his dad's for the last weekend before school, supposedly to go camping - he ended up spending the weekend in the camper in the driveway. With a girl. And yes the had sex. Did his father know? HE DROVE HER HOME!!! What a douche. Katrina has full custody, and though she won't deny Zack's father access, she has decided Zack is never going back there. Not after that. If Zack's dad want's to see Zack, he'll have to come up here. Period, end of list.
In other news, as of about 3 weeks ago, Katrina is off RFT, a kind of preliminary probation, where she could not operate alone. Now she can and gets a huge raise. She is now considered a full member of the RCMP, but has another 18 months probation to go. My job still sucks, but I like most of my co-workers and I am coping with it better. Like Billy Crystal's character said at the end of City Slickers, "I'm not going to quit my job, I'm just going to do it better."
Well, that's it for now. I may post some picks from the wedding - it was a Scottish one, so there was a piper and 6 (including me) in kilts. If I can get around to it, that is...
I've been sort of MIA off and on and my activity feed has been fucked up for a bit so I'm trying to catch up with everyone.
Holy hell, the shit you all must have been through... I do feel bad for that child. It's a shame some people have to be such assholes.