Sometimes divorce isn't such a bad idea

No really, it has it's good sides.

I've been on a roller coaster this week. Delivered a MONDO project that felt like giving birth or defending a thesis. It was that big. Now I get to coast a bit. Well, at work. At home things are firing off in all directions like the freaking fourth of July.

Today I was approached by the director of the after school program three of my kids go to. She told me that there have been some issues regarding the comportment of the eldest and that they've been escalating. We talked for a while and she reassured me she'd be talking to the kids father (she stressed the father, not the partner ... apparently she too has had his special deflection treatment).

What's stressing me out about this is that I think there's a good likelihood history will repeat itself and he'll make an all encompassing decision to jack the two eldest out of the program and make other arrangements (that being his partner's parents will swoop in and start caring for the children after school as the septuagenarians are moving in with them all).

This is great for the children's father - one more level of people carrying for his children so he doesn't have to deal with them. Possibly lousy for me. School ends at 2:45. Core office hours run at least to 3 and then the fastest I can get from the office to them is 30 minutes ...

So, I've had my panic attack about this already, and have laid out three plausible options of what to do. (One being the kids IS 12 years old and could stay at home alone ... however, he has issues which are the reason we may be having to attend to his premature removal.)

Plans are a good thing. Now it's to sit and wait to see what the father does.

Now, on a good note. I'd been involved in an organization that I believe translates to Parent-Partners in Education. It's an Ontario wide initiative to support families who have one parent who is primarily an English speaker and another parent that is primarily a French speaker and who ultimately decide to school their kids in French. This group has a two-fold aim. Support the English parent who may feel at a disadvantage placing their child in a school where they may not be able to comprehend what's what.

I'd participated in launching the initiative and then the group presentation. Over the summer they changed direction and decided to put together video clips of families with this type of make-up and build a CD and web presence to get the message out broader.

Tonight we were treated like movie stars (on a very small budget). Two camera guys came over and set up in our scratch of a back yard while the kids did tricks for them and we talked about what it's like to be in a "mixed" marriage (the irony being that that was my first marriage, my second is with another Anglophone and *I*'m serving as the French representative!)

So, at some point this fall, we'll be notified that the video (bilingual - the huz in mostly English. Me in my version of French.)

It was a fun experience, something I would never have thought of to do while behind the iron curtain of the first marriage (it was very controlled).

A cute moment of the interview? When I was asked what the children would say if they were asked what their language status was (Francophone, Anglophone, or something else). I suggested she ask that question of CU-2 who replied "I was born a Francophone, but now I'm bilingual.) CU-1 said he was a Franco-anglophone. My goofie boy brings tears of pride to my eyes!