So I never posted an update to DH kicking SS18.5 out; partly because I’ve been slammed at work (massive overtime), exhausted emotionally AND due to waking up with hot-flashes at 4:00am then not being able to go back to sleep… burnt out. But I have a brief window of time alone and need to write this out.

Thanks for all your encouragement the past few months. So after DH blew up (Eff you! Get out! It’s divorce! Etc.), but kept his word and kicked SS18 out, he was ghosting me for several days. Even after he apologized; it was like he was so depressed he couldn’t talk or eat. But a few days later I confronted him, asking him how he can punish ME for SS18’s total failure to do what was needed (get a drivers license, auto insurance, and enroll in local CC before the semester began in August) when DH had spent YEARS being on the same page with me & presenting a united front with a consistent message. DH tried to appeal to my sympathy by saying “SS needs more time!” (sympathy is how they got me here in the 1st place, and I’m gonna be much more sympathetic to a 12 year old boy than an 18.5 teenager who has disrespected me, my marriage, and my house for YEARS until he got himself kicked out) but as I posted, I stayed STRONG and held the ground we’d agreed to as an equal team years before. I told him I not only disagreed, but that we did SS a MAJOR disservice in letting him skate all Summer without handling biz. DH allowed SS to force him (DH) to kick him (SS) out. I took ZERO responsibility for it and told DH I did not marry SS and will not support a grown man who not only won’t contribute to the upkeep of the house, but won’t even brush or floss his own teeth, keep up with his laundry,

So things are calm with me & DH for now. He apologized to me and admitted his fears and pain from losing SS when he was 3, during the original divorce (which involved DH catching BM cheating with a co-worker, BM & her f*ck-buddy co-worker lying to police and saying DS assaulted her, DH being arrested and held over the weekend, and having to take a year of court-mandated Anger Management classes… based on LIES!) and I told him I think he has a bit of PTSD from that because SS is now 18 and not a defenseless child. In the heart of a guilty daddee, maybe an 18-year old is still a defenseless child. But not to me; the kid is an inch taller than me and his BM is super-short – no way she could “hurt” him physically and when her verbal/emotional/psychological abuse starts, he can bail. So I didn’t concede anything and held my ground that SS needs to experience consequences because he refuses to respect the opportunity we provided. I didn’t say the part about how my DH refused to do the hard work of kicking SS’s ass into gear years ago; if he had, he wouldn’t have had to kick SS out. But SS successfully had us triangulated, and I never figured it out until finding StepTalk. By then it was too late for their wagon-wheel ruts, but I was willing to learn and change. I consider my disengagement successful as of this summer, although I’d been working on it for a year.

Since kicking SS out, DH has made a MASSIVE effort to get SS to the DMV to sign up for the written drivers test and take him practice-driving a couple times a week (went from zero until late Summer, then not even once a week right before SS got kicked out; SS rarely kept his commitments to DH). Even getting the DMV test appointment took them several weeks and multiple visits (long lines, needed ORIG birth cert, etc.). Now this morning, DH left to take SS to get a haircut (we have a family wedding to attend next month and even though I’m disengaged and not buying him anything, I’ve been encouraging DH to get himself & SS haircuts and something nice to wear because everything I bought SS for events like that is now too small, and this is really more for the family member getting married and their wedding photos, not for SS or myself).

DH has been sharing some of what he talks to SS about, and I know it makes DH feel better but looking at SS18 phone logs (he’s on the family account for now but late AGAIN in paying us his share of the phone bill… I have to stay disengaged on this for the bigger picture). With separate accounts, I will continue paying SS’s from our family bill-paying account, in January 2019 if he’s not driving/insured/enrolled in CC, I will drop him and he can go get his own account. DH and I had PLANNED on SS getting his own phone account back in May, but SS didn’t even bother to get a JOB until early May so DH told me, “he’s not ready.” Way to enable, DH. But instead, I told DH that SS needs to contribute $20/month to the phone bill, and if he pays after thet 5th, it goes up to $25, and if it’s after the 15th, he’s gonna loose service (…. And today is the 15th so maybe he’ll need a wake-up call… not gonna give him or DH any reason to blame me for anything so he’s got until tomorrow; DH keeps telling me he needs to remind SS and I stay quiet because I know SS knows EXACTLY what he’s avoiding, which just also confirms he’s not changed a thing).

SS has not cleaned or packed anything from his old room though. I think that’s partly because of his lazy M.O. but fear it’s also partly because he may be getting a different message from DH about coming back here to live. I’m not worried about it, but I did remove something from SS’s room this morning (last week while putting clean sheets on the bed & moving all the dirty laundry to one pile, I found two lighters, one empty weed baggie, and one empty weed jar;threw’em all out; left the sex-toys & lube his BM got him where they are though ‘cuz I didn’t want to touch’em or be asked where they went!) and when he or DH ask about it, I am going to say it will become available again once the room is cleaned out. I know I shouldn’t have done that last part but I’d removed the same thing the week before and I got PISSED! I am sick of waiting for that room to be clean (and have no time to do it myself, plus I get angry when I go in there!) and last night even told DH that if’ it’s not clean by next weekend, we’re paying someone to clean/pack it. DH didn’t seem to like hearing that but didn’t say anything. I think they BOTH need to see that room looking like a nice, clean, inviting, good-smelling room (like it WAS before I invited SS to move in and DH got custody).

However, I don’t think it has occurred to SS that his passive-aggressive leaving his nasty room for assumedly ME to clean was his way to punish me for not allowing him to live here and party without going to school or even doing the basic, bare-ass MINIMUM. Maybe it has. Either way, if I pay a family member to come clean it up I think SS will be embarrassed THAT PERSON had to see his hovel. How ungrateful he is for all the nice things we got him by letting the dust pile up; leaving all the tags from the clothes I bought him and empty new shoe boxes on the floor ,all his laundry dryer-sheets on the floor, empty water bottles, etc. Not doing his laundry or changing his sheets in MONTHS. It’s gross - the bed has clean sheets now but you wouldn’t want to sleep in there because everything else is gross.

That’s my update. Not complete, but have limited time and a lot on my agenda. Main point is that I’m hanging in there, staying strong, and really EXTRA grateful for this community. So thank you everyone, once again.