Sunday, April 12, 2009

Verbal Breakdowns

It's been a while since posting, mainly due to my preoccupation with work and school commitments. Lately our verbal communication has broken down worse than ever. It's both of our faults: it starts when I leave MAM a VM asking her to call me to talk about a scheduling issue with the kids. This time it's about summer scheduling, day camp, and weekend holiday arrangements. I hate actually talking with her but have to because she won't respond to emails appropriately and I can't stand making the kids pay for her actions. But the phone calls rapidly turn nasty. MAM is incredibly hostile and nasty and I end up getting frustrated and calling her appropriate epithets. What solutions are there to force a MAM into communicating by email only? I may have to resort to sole communication through our lawyers but of course that costs a lot. I can also do it through a parental coordinator who will relay messages. Both of those are slow methods. I met a guy at a party last night who was regaling me with his divorce horror stories and his own personal MAM. When he had the same problem he called Child Protective Services (in New Jersey) and that forced his MAM to read his emails about their kids' issues. New Jersey seems to be a tough state for divorce. Another recent meeting with a guy going through same in NJ was similar - long periods of alimony and years of misery before a settlement. I'm waiting for my own settlement here in PA. Hopefully it will be done soon so I can move on.