Dear anita,

Yep, it is but when put together, my name is shipp…and that’s my legal signature, which I really like, so I go by Shipp.

I understand where you’re coming from regarding therapy but unless she is willing to participate in the process, trying to force her would do more harm than good. There’s a long list of reasons why she is the way that she is, and most are not of her doing. I think Ive mentioned what a lovely person my ex husband is. I tried to stick it out for as long as I could (to try to get the girls old enough to make their own decisions because he always threatened tht he and his parents would take the girls from me if I left him) but when I decided that I was done, and just waiting for him to come back in town to tell him, Brit came to me and said that if I didn’t tell him to stay with his parents during his time in town that she would take her sister and they would stay on campus (she was in college) while he was home. That was instantly enough for me to realize that my daughter had been through enough too. Neither one of them will have anything to do with their father and it’s been 6 years since the divorce.

My youngest daughter (Ash) is married. She lives with her husband and my granddaughter in PA. She adores Emmett. She once told me that he is more of a dad than her father ever was. Sad but true!
Of Emmett’s 3 children, the oldest has royally messed up her life. The drama that we went through with her 2 years ago has put a major rift in the relationship with Emmett. They still Facebook comment but it was my who contacted her, when we found out about the Parkinsons, and asked her to call her dad. Same with the youngest, contacted him too to call.
The middle (daughter) and youngest (son) used to stay with Emmett temporarily.. about the same time that we started dating. He couldn’t handle them. So I did. I told them that they would get out of bed before 2 in the afternoon, if they didn’t want to get jobs then they could do something around the house to be useful, there would be no more drugs, and if they were caught stealing from their father again they would be kicked out. I was a mean person, so they went back to live with their mommy again lol. Now keep in mind that they are all between the ages of 18 and 21 at the time. I was working 2 jobs and running 2 households (mine and Emmett’s) and he was working 60 hours a week or more.
I think he’s sad, not that they don’t keep in touch, but that he thought he raised them better than how they turned out to be. He’s disappointed in all three. They’ve really just used him for all that they could get.

It’s similar to the situation with myself and my family. He loves them but it’s too painful and too much drama to be around them. I don’t expect them to come around again until they think that they can get something (financially) from Emmett or his estate. That’s why he’s in such a rush to get an airtight Power of Attorney and Will in place. He wants to make sure that they can’t touch anything that we have if something happens to him. And he wants to make sure that Brit gets the house and Brit and Ash divide what’s left, if something happens to me. He says that his children have already TAKEN everything that their going to get from him. And, yes it’s sad but it’s true.

Oh, update:

Told nephew today that the house is going back on the market after Thanksgiving. He still has the option to close, if they can get cleared to but I’m not waiting indefinitely. Yay me!! lol

Daughter decided to do some cleaning today (some people do Spring cleaning but I do Fall cleaning spree) so we cleaned baseboards, doorways, on top of shelves, did laundry, swept, vacuumed, scrubbed, the works. It was her idea. Go figure lol.

I don’t have any deep thoughts, questions to pose or discoveries to share for this post. I think I’m still in recuperating mood tonight. I’ll post again tomorrow.

Until we talk again, take care of yourself

~ Shipp