An Australian Who Lived In The USA | Blog Archive

Where to begin?

Christmas Day was a lot of fun! Of course the two boys were up earlier than should be allowed. They quickly found their way and raided their stockings, made pretty much up of candy and all things Star Wars (that could fit). I honestly can’t remember if breakfast came next or what. Actually, I can’t remember what we had for breakfast. Details.

I do know that the boys’ highlight was their Lego Star Destroyer. It took hours to build and much less to end up all over the place. I wonder if we’ll ever be able to build it again… they’re always playing with the Lego Star Wars dudes that came with, so it’s good to see toys that continue to be played with. They also received their fair share of clothes, Nintendo games, more star wars toys and some Pirates of the Caribbean toys. It’s funny to watch Obi Wan fight off the fish lookin’ creature from Dead Man’s Chest. Or Jack Sparrow to match his cunning and wit against Darth Vader, or Darth Maul. Or Darth Vader AND Darth Maul. Savvy?

New Year was really fun. A massive paint ball game was organized at a friends place, the place we were to stay and spend the evening. Our boys found their way to the Lego sets and watching Sean (about 11 yrs old) play X-Box 360. Meanwhile us “big boys” did all we could to annihilate the crap out of each other. I actually had Aaron, Josh and Toby from Retail Anywhere come along and play. It was nice to have people I know there, I don’t really know anyone else who shows up there. That evening the kids (of all ages) networked four XBox’s and played 16-player games across 4 TV’s. I joined the adults for Margarita’s and various other drinks. And cheese. And chocolate.

Our house went under contract again and fell through again. It was perfect; they liked the place, they made an offer right where the listed price was, they were well approved, ready to go. Everything looked sensational. Our Realtor was very happy for us, letting us know our patience had paid off. Then the bomb drops not a day later. They chose to talk to the same Inspection Company as had previously looked at our home. The woman there had scared away our previous buyers by saying she thinks the foundation has major issues that needs lots of work. She did it again. I’m livid. I want to find out if she is licensed to be making such statements. You can’t just walk around and say, “This house needs $30k work to it.”

Even so, we’ve listed plain-as-day that there is settling with the house and we have factored that into our price. Our Realtor is in full agreement with that as well. We have another offer that is quite a bit lower than this nice offer we just had, and it is also contingent upon the sale of THEIR house. That could take time. But we’re considering going with it, we have a clause that let’s us accept further offers if they come along. I’ll be following up with my Realtor today and probably let him know we’re going to accept.

Last week I received a surprise call from my brother Adrian, but it wasn’t good. He’s the rough, strong, never-opens-up type. He was bawling. He was on the side of the road, no where to go, kicked out, no friends, no family, completely messed up. He and his girlfriend appear to be living in a highly abusive relationship, where they resort to swearing and yelling, threats and the like. The worst part is they have 2 kids together. Adrian was a wreck, but he was reaching out for help. It was hard to talk to him because he was completely losing it.

It turns out they sold their house and are living with her parents. I’ve met them once and know the area they live in. I wouldn’t go there unless I had to. His girlfriend Jasmine is really nice, or has been really nice, so I gave her a call. Adrian pretty much asked me to help him figure it all out. So I talked to her and had a really good talk. I eventually got down to the nitty-gritty, and it was all pretty trivial stuff. Adrian was TXT messaging me and wanted to hear me talking to her, so he called me and I had both phones on my ears.

Surprise surprise when after, talking to Adrian and getting the nitty gritty from him, his were all bloody trivial too. They’re hell bent on proving the other wrong all the time, and when things don’t go the way they want the revert to name-calling and threats. Including sleeping with each others friends etc. Both of them. But they both said to me in various ways that they really love the other. Jasmine said that he is stuck with her for life. Adrian said he loves her and want’s to be the F*** brady bunch.

He hasn’t done much to help himself out. They don’t own a car so they rely on her parents to drive them. They don’t own a house. Adrian does not have ID on him and hasn’t for 3 years! What a shock it was to learn this. The bank account is in her name. The medical card is in her name. Apparently Adrian has done a good job of ignoring her and not helping with the kids the past few years. They’ve had their own car and house and put up a fake everything-is-alright screen. Now she openly admits that she’s seeing how he likes it. He was stupid to put himself in this place and not exercise responsibility, and she’s just as stupid for retaliating. And it will probably go round and round and round…

But I did all I could to keep my composure and really do what I can for them. I told them both that Jenifer and I love them very much and just want to do whatever we can to help them find resolution. We’ve definitely recommended counseling, they both said they’ve been wanting to but had excuses for why they hadn’t yet.

The way I see it; right or wrong, Adrian is in a very fragile position. If things go south, even further south than they are, she has the bank account, medical, a place to live, the kids. He doesn’t even have ID. I can’t believe he would ever feel ok about this. He had to call America for help for goodness sake…

That night he messaged me saying that she had said that we’re both F***wits. Then the next morning he said he had misunderstood her and that she was glad I had called to help. I don’t know what to think there. I just continue to check in with him via TXT message daily.

So here we are, right now. As you can see, quite a bit going on. Apologies for the rant, it was nice to get this down on paper. It’ll be good for me to look over it. Oh yeah, our birthday week is coming up starting next week! Nevan turns 7, I’m 28 and Jen is 27.

Michael owes Cap’n John responses to his comments. Michael was shocked to find a dozen or so REAL comments in his blog!

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