Quarantine but not.
With all this COVID-19 absurdity everywhere, you know that The Ex is going to do whatever makes the least amount of sense regarding it.
Our state closed the schools and non-essential businesses about a month and a half ago. The day that they made the announcement, The Ex's younger sister called Daughter and asked if she was going to come up to Tiny City for spring break because she "didn't have to go to school." Daughter told her she didn't know what was happening. (This was our year for spring break so even if the schools had not closed, Daughter still would have been staying here.)
It also happened to be our weekend with Daughter when they announced that everything closed. After everything was shut down for a week, it was supposed to be The Ex's placement weekend. Daughter texted me on Friday afternoon:
Daughter: So like dad is sleeping but I want to ask him if I can go to moms but don't want to wake him (Husband was home, said he wasn't sleeping; I was at work. I don't know why she thought he was sleeping but whatever, it's irrelevant now.)
Me: Idk. I mean, yes it's her time and everything but they are literally shutting down the borders to [neighboring state]. (This was reported to me by one of my customers whose parents live in that state.) They're talking about deploying the national guard and putting everyone on 2 week quarantine here in [our state]. You have to be here to get your school computer and assignments, they haven't even clarified if it's 100% online or not. If they lock us down, it's going to be a huge problem if you're stuck in [Tiny City].
Me: Plus you'd have to drive through [neighboring county] twice to get back and forth. There's already 4 confirmed cases there. (At this point in time, there were no confirmed cases in our county or The Ex's county. The route that The Ex drives to get from Tiny City to our house takes her straight through the heart of a county that had 4 confirmed cases at that time.)
Daughter: Well idk I want to go. And I don't get out of the car, we usually just do a straight shot there. (There's more on this, so remember it.)
Me: Personally, I don't think it's the smartest to be traveling that far for a 2-day visit. If she lived a lot closer, it would be a different story. But I guess that's her decision to make.
Daughter: Well she wants to pick me up. And I said I would talk to u or dad... soo 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
Me: I understand that you want to go and that she wants to pick you up. I'm just saying it's not a wise choice with things in the current state that they are.
Me: If she really insists on it because it's the court order, then you have to be home in [our city] according to the same guidelines regardless of what happens over the weekend. (I felt that this needed to be clarified because I could totally see The Ex picking her up on Friday, the state going in to lockdown on Saturday or Sunday, and then The Ex refusing to return Daughter by claiming that she "couldn't" bring her home.)
Our state closed the schools and non-essential businesses about a month and a half ago. The day that they made the announcement, The Ex's younger sister called Daughter and asked if she was going to come up to Tiny City for spring break because she "didn't have to go to school." Daughter told her she didn't know what was happening. (This was our year for spring break so even if the schools had not closed, Daughter still would have been staying here.)
It also happened to be our weekend with Daughter when they announced that everything closed. After everything was shut down for a week, it was supposed to be The Ex's placement weekend. Daughter texted me on Friday afternoon:
Daughter: So like dad is sleeping but I want to ask him if I can go to moms but don't want to wake him (Husband was home, said he wasn't sleeping; I was at work. I don't know why she thought he was sleeping but whatever, it's irrelevant now.)
Me: Idk. I mean, yes it's her time and everything but they are literally shutting down the borders to [neighboring state]. (This was reported to me by one of my customers whose parents live in that state.) They're talking about deploying the national guard and putting everyone on 2 week quarantine here in [our state]. You have to be here to get your school computer and assignments, they haven't even clarified if it's 100% online or not. If they lock us down, it's going to be a huge problem if you're stuck in [Tiny City].
Me: Plus you'd have to drive through [neighboring county] twice to get back and forth. There's already 4 confirmed cases there. (At this point in time, there were no confirmed cases in our county or The Ex's county. The route that The Ex drives to get from Tiny City to our house takes her straight through the heart of a county that had 4 confirmed cases at that time.)
Daughter: Well idk I want to go. And I don't get out of the car, we usually just do a straight shot there. (There's more on this, so remember it.)
Me: Personally, I don't think it's the smartest to be traveling that far for a 2-day visit. If she lived a lot closer, it would be a different story. But I guess that's her decision to make.
Daughter: Well she wants to pick me up. And I said I would talk to u or dad... soo 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
Me: I understand that you want to go and that she wants to pick you up. I'm just saying it's not a wise choice with things in the current state that they are.
Me: If she really insists on it because it's the court order, then you have to be home in [our city] according to the same guidelines regardless of what happens over the weekend. (I felt that this needed to be clarified because I could totally see The Ex picking her up on Friday, the state going in to lockdown on Saturday or Sunday, and then The Ex refusing to return Daughter by claiming that she "couldn't" bring her home.)
Daughter: Okay.
The Ex did, in fact, pick up Daughter that Friday night and dropped her off on Sunday evening, just like the court order says. Husband said that before I got home from work on Friday, The Ex called Daughter and he heard Daughter talking/arguing with The Ex and saying that she was not going to get out of the car on the way back to Tiny City. Daughter later told me that on their way back to Tiny City that night, The Ex stopped in the county that had four confirmed cases of coronavirus and wanted Daughter to get out and pump gas for her. Daughter said that she refused to do it. (I'm not one for rebelling against parental authority, but in this case, I completely support it; when your parent is a dumbass telling you to do dumbass things, you have the right to say no.)
Almost four weeks after this weekend happened, Daughter told me that she'd been on the phone with The Ex's younger sister who asked if she was going to spend more time in Tiny City "since she technically doesn't have to go to school." Daughter told her aunt that it's not something for her to talk about and that it's a discussion that The Ex and Husband needed to have. I told her that was the perfect response and said, "And let me guess. She came back with, 'Well, you're old enough to decide...'" Daughter said, "Yeah, pretty much."
The Ex did, in fact, pick up Daughter that Friday night and dropped her off on Sunday evening, just like the court order says. Husband said that before I got home from work on Friday, The Ex called Daughter and he heard Daughter talking/arguing with The Ex and saying that she was not going to get out of the car on the way back to Tiny City. Daughter later told me that on their way back to Tiny City that night, The Ex stopped in the county that had four confirmed cases of coronavirus and wanted Daughter to get out and pump gas for her. Daughter said that she refused to do it. (I'm not one for rebelling against parental authority, but in this case, I completely support it; when your parent is a dumbass telling you to do dumbass things, you have the right to say no.)
Almost four weeks after this weekend happened, Daughter told me that she'd been on the phone with The Ex's younger sister who asked if she was going to spend more time in Tiny City "since she technically doesn't have to go to school." Daughter told her aunt that it's not something for her to talk about and that it's a discussion that The Ex and Husband needed to have. I told her that was the perfect response and said, "And let me guess. She came back with, 'Well, you're old enough to decide...'" Daughter said, "Yeah, pretty much."
The next night, Daughter was on the phone with The Ex. The Ex began asking if Daughter was going to spend more time in Tiny City since she doesn't have to physically attend school. I heard Daughter tell The Ex, "It's not up to me, you need to talk to my dad about it." Not surprisingly, The Ex has not said anything to Husband.
Five days after this, I was talking to Daughter about her work schedule and how I wasn't sure if The Ex was going to pick her up this weekend or not. Daughter said that The Ex was going to talk to Husband; I said I wasn't aware of her contacting him. (The Ex has not logged into 2houses since December 11, 2019. She told Daughter that she "doesn't know her password." Husband has not gotten any phone calls, texts, or emails. We've heard absolutely nothing.) Daughter said that The Ex was telling her that she was going to suggest to Husband that Daughter spend two weeks in Tiny City, then two weeks here, and continuing with this schedule so that Daughter would be "self-quarantining." (That is literally not self-quarantining, but okay.) Daughter said that she didn't know if The Ex was going to bring it up or not, but said she'd been talking about it earlier. Daughter finally added, "Then again, I don't know how that would work since she doesn't even want to pick me up."
Five days after this, I was talking to Daughter about her work schedule and how I wasn't sure if The Ex was going to pick her up this weekend or not. Daughter said that The Ex was going to talk to Husband; I said I wasn't aware of her contacting him. (The Ex has not logged into 2houses since December 11, 2019. She told Daughter that she "doesn't know her password." Husband has not gotten any phone calls, texts, or emails. We've heard absolutely nothing.) Daughter said that The Ex was telling her that she was going to suggest to Husband that Daughter spend two weeks in Tiny City, then two weeks here, and continuing with this schedule so that Daughter would be "self-quarantining." (That is literally not self-quarantining, but okay.) Daughter said that she didn't know if The Ex was going to bring it up or not, but said she'd been talking about it earlier. Daughter finally added, "Then again, I don't know how that would work since she doesn't even want to pick me up."
Here's where it's completely stupid: The Ex has not exercised any of her placement since she insisted on getting Daughter the weekend after everything closed. She has not physically seen Daughter in almost a month and a half. So literally at the onset of the pandemic, it is totally okay to drive almost 4 hours roundtrip through 3 counties, one of which had confirmed cases and then stopping in that same county. Now? Oh, no. No, no, no. We can't be traveling because of "safety" or whatever. Unless it's for two weeks at a time, because that will somehow make it safer to be exposed to entirely different people for 14 days and then expose yourself to entirely different people for another 14 days.
Whatever. I'm just venting at this point because honestly, if The Ex asked if Daughter could spend more time there, we'd tell her no. Mainly because Daughter has a school-issued laptop that I signed for, which means that I am legally and financially responsible to return in good, working condition. I can totally see one of The Ex's kids or even The Ex herself breaking the laptop and then refusing to pay for it on the premise that it "was an accident." Daughter mentioned something about The Ex having a computer that she could use; Daughter still needs my help with math at times and The Ex can't even do second-grade math much less high school math, so it's still a no.
Whatever. I'm just venting at this point because honestly, if The Ex asked if Daughter could spend more time there, we'd tell her no. Mainly because Daughter has a school-issued laptop that I signed for, which means that I am legally and financially responsible to return in good, working condition. I can totally see one of The Ex's kids or even The Ex herself breaking the laptop and then refusing to pay for it on the premise that it "was an accident." Daughter mentioned something about The Ex having a computer that she could use; Daughter still needs my help with math at times and The Ex can't even do second-grade math much less high school math, so it's still a no.
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