Spotted Leopards are Carnivorous

(Beautiful but deadly.)

I really hate knowing what comes next.  I keep waiting for people to surprise me, but they never do.  People don't change the core of who they are, no more than the proverbial leopard changes their spots.  I have always had the gift of knowing who someone was regardless of what face they choose to put forward.


It's a great gift to have, sort of.  I mean, at least you know right?  At the same time, it sucks.  You can try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but then, you are always in limbo waiting for that shoe to drop.  *sigh*  It sucks. 


Battling with strong willed children is hard enough on it's own.  When you add in two sets of parents, and additional children it's a chore of epic magnitude.  You and your partner agree to parent your children with the ideals, morals and rules that together you think will make a well rounded adult someday.  You do what's best, as best you can and stick together.


Sometimes even amongst yourselves, you can disagree and agree to disagree about how to parent your children.  However, it's a united front, or at least it is at Casa di Romano, in front of the children.  If we disagree, we do it behind closed doors and come to some common ground.


When you have additional parents to weigh in, it's a nightmare.  Even when relationships are civil, or better yet friendly, a disagreement on what's appropriate for your children can quickly turn into a battle of wills.  Throw in a child who is manipulative, and it's full on war.


When the other parents are those parents.  You know those parents who have perfect children, who do nothing wrong ever.  The chore of epic magnitude which was a battle of wills with a strong willed child becomes a war that is rivaled by nothing.  There is no winning.  It's emotional torture.  For the parents.  For the children.  It accomplishes nothing but misery.


And so I struggle.  I struggle to stay afloat in a river of discord.  I struggle to support the partner who is pushing back against the tide.  I pull his head above the water as he tries to give up so that he won't drown and give way to the tide of animosity.


I do it for the man I love.  I do it for the child who doesn't care.  I do it because it's the right thing to do.  I do it because I love them both.  I do it because he's my son too.  I do it because I treat all my children the same, whether I brought them into this world or someone else did.  I do it because I LOVE THEM with every fiber of my being.


I do it because I am stubborn, and I refuse to give up hope that someday, someway, somehow....someone will surprise me.