She is so tiresome.
Going back a few months, we were planning to go out-of-state to visit Husband's parents while the kids were on spring break; his mom's health has been declining and we didn't want to risk postponing our trip until the summer only for her health to deteriorate and us not getting to spend that last time with her.
We had everything lined up; rental car arranged, we were both scheduled to have off of work. And then coronavirus happened. We all agreed that it would be better to just wait things out and we could come later in the year; Husband's mom said she wanted to see us, but she understood.
A month after canceling our initial trip, we got our stimulus check so we booked flights to Husband's home state. We're scheduled to leave in less than 2 weeks. Apparently, The Ex is just about losing her mind over this right now.
Last week, The Ex shared a post about Chicago requiring travelers to self-quarantine if they traveled to and then returned from 15 certain states; if they do not quarantine, they will be fined. The Ex tagged Daughter in her post. We do not live in Chicago, we do not work in Chicago, we are not traveling through or even near Chicago; none of this post applies to us and our trip.
But then yesterday, it got REALLY fun.
The Ex sent Daughter a message that read:
"I SERIOUSLY DO NOT WANT YOU TO GO TO [STATE]... I AM SO SCARED THAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET COVID... KIDS DON'T EVEN WANT YOU TO GO. YOUR DAD NEEDS TO FUCKING THINK ABOUT YOU AND NOT HIMSELF LIKE HE HAS ALL THESE YEARS...
IF ANYTHING, THEN DRIVE...
We had everything lined up; rental car arranged, we were both scheduled to have off of work. And then coronavirus happened. We all agreed that it would be better to just wait things out and we could come later in the year; Husband's mom said she wanted to see us, but she understood.
A month after canceling our initial trip, we got our stimulus check so we booked flights to Husband's home state. We're scheduled to leave in less than 2 weeks. Apparently, The Ex is just about losing her mind over this right now.
Last week, The Ex shared a post about Chicago requiring travelers to self-quarantine if they traveled to and then returned from 15 certain states; if they do not quarantine, they will be fined. The Ex tagged Daughter in her post. We do not live in Chicago, we do not work in Chicago, we are not traveling through or even near Chicago; none of this post applies to us and our trip.
But then yesterday, it got REALLY fun.
The Ex sent Daughter a message that read:
"I SERIOUSLY DO NOT WANT YOU TO GO TO [STATE]... I AM SO SCARED THAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET COVID... KIDS DON'T EVEN WANT YOU TO GO. YOUR DAD NEEDS TO FUCKING THINK ABOUT YOU AND NOT HIMSELF LIKE HE HAS ALL THESE YEARS...
IF ANYTHING, THEN DRIVE...
1 SNEEZE, 1 PERSON COUGHING ON AN AIRPLANE AND YOU MOST LIKELY HAVE COVID... IT IS AIRBORNE... THEY ARE FILLING THE PLANES TO CAPACITY...
THINK ABOUT IT SWEETIE
[GUY'S NAME]... DON'T LET HER GO"
The Ex then sent a picture of an "article" she had printed. It's not really an article; it looks like someone copied and pasted an article with a photo into a word document and then printed it...but anyway. The "article" was how the governor of Husband's home state issued an order requiring residents to wear face-coverings in public. The Ex drew attention to the last line of the "article" which read, "Studies suggest the masks may serve as a helpful barrier." The Ex underlined the word "helpful" and then wrote, "Help Only... HELP"
Daughter read the message and simply sent back, "Ik you don't want me to go mom." The Ex read her reply and said nothing else.
Now I'm going to break down why this is nothing more than The Ex being a hypochondriac control freak:
1. You can get COVID from anywhere. There's certainly plenty of it in our state. When things first shut down here, The Ex still insisted on coming to pick up Daughter for her placement weekend; The Ex wasn't scared back then. The Ex also wanted Daughter to come back to Tiny City with Son this past weekend; she wasn't scared then, either.
2. I could give a rat's ass what The Ex's kids want Daughter to do or not do, especially her little bastard son. If Daughter won't listen to The Ex, then she'll throw the kids into the mix to make Daughter feel bad. The Ex sees her children as pawns to use as leverage and nothing more.
3. Husband is not "thinking of himself." Husband and I are thinking about his elderly parents who we both very much miss, love, and want to see because there is no guarantee that there will be a "see you next year" visit.
4. Drive? She wants us to drive? Driving means we have to make a number of stops in a number of states to eat, fill up the vehicle with gas, and go to the bathroom. Explain to me how on earth that is "safer" than a flight that would take an hour and half?
5. Google "Odds of catching COVID on a plane"- I did last night. It comes up as a "common question" and the first sentence of the answer is, "Because of how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes, most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on airplanes." But according to The Ex, if one person coughs and/or sneezes, then we're all infected immediately. Got it.
6. Since you're Googling things, try "Is COVID airborne?" I did this also. This also comes up as a "common question" on Google and the first answer is from an article back in March which reads, "According to current evidence, COVID-19 virus is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes. In an analysis of 75,465 COVID-19 cases in China, airborne transmission was not reported." So no, it is not an airborne disease.
7. Of course they're filling the planes to capacity; they always have. Air travel is a business that is meant to be profitable. They will hemorrhage money if they take off without the plane being filled as much as it can be.
8. The Ex is addressing the guy that she was sending those creepy texts to a few months earlier. I do not understand how or why The Ex feels he has any right to control where Daughter goes and when.
Listen, I don't want you guys to think that I'm a high-conflict stepmom. I'm not trying to find something to complain about with The Ex. Along with everything I've listed above, these are also reasons that I'm rolling my eyes at this objection to our trip:
1. The Ex was already mad at Husband months earlier for planning this trip over Daughter's 18th birthday (which is what Daughter asked us to do) and accused him of "trying to take [The Ex's] last week" or something like that.
2. Last month The Ex was driving all over God's green earth with Ned and her kids, going on a "waterfalling trip" which included well over 400 miles of driving and crossing into another state. But now, she's soooo scared that Daughter is going to contract COVID.
3. The Ex has been planning a birthday party for Son, Daughter, and their sister; she wants to throw this party on the Saturday following us returning from our trip. If The Ex was truly frightened by Daughter contracting COVID, then she'd have her quarantine at our house for 2 weeks after coming back to our state - not throw a damned birthday party while inviting all her family and friends over.
And with all of that being said, some of Husband's family members are completely frenzied over the state of things right now so we've already discussed this. We had already planned months ago on strictly going to his parents' house; not going to visit other family, not going to do any sight-seeing/activities, no shopping for the hell of it. Husband is going to talk to his parents and see how they feel. If they're scared and want us to stay home, then we'll reschedule; if they're comfortable with us coming, then we're still going to go. At this point, everyone else's opinion is irrelevant.
The Ex then sent a picture of an "article" she had printed. It's not really an article; it looks like someone copied and pasted an article with a photo into a word document and then printed it...but anyway. The "article" was how the governor of Husband's home state issued an order requiring residents to wear face-coverings in public. The Ex drew attention to the last line of the "article" which read, "Studies suggest the masks may serve as a helpful barrier." The Ex underlined the word "helpful" and then wrote, "Help Only... HELP"
Daughter read the message and simply sent back, "Ik you don't want me to go mom." The Ex read her reply and said nothing else.
Now I'm going to break down why this is nothing more than The Ex being a hypochondriac control freak:
1. You can get COVID from anywhere. There's certainly plenty of it in our state. When things first shut down here, The Ex still insisted on coming to pick up Daughter for her placement weekend; The Ex wasn't scared back then. The Ex also wanted Daughter to come back to Tiny City with Son this past weekend; she wasn't scared then, either.
2. I could give a rat's ass what The Ex's kids want Daughter to do or not do, especially her little bastard son. If Daughter won't listen to The Ex, then she'll throw the kids into the mix to make Daughter feel bad. The Ex sees her children as pawns to use as leverage and nothing more.
3. Husband is not "thinking of himself." Husband and I are thinking about his elderly parents who we both very much miss, love, and want to see because there is no guarantee that there will be a "see you next year" visit.
4. Drive? She wants us to drive? Driving means we have to make a number of stops in a number of states to eat, fill up the vehicle with gas, and go to the bathroom. Explain to me how on earth that is "safer" than a flight that would take an hour and half?
5. Google "Odds of catching COVID on a plane"- I did last night. It comes up as a "common question" and the first sentence of the answer is, "Because of how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes, most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on airplanes." But according to The Ex, if one person coughs and/or sneezes, then we're all infected immediately. Got it.
6. Since you're Googling things, try "Is COVID airborne?" I did this also. This also comes up as a "common question" on Google and the first answer is from an article back in March which reads, "According to current evidence, COVID-19 virus is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes. In an analysis of 75,465 COVID-19 cases in China, airborne transmission was not reported." So no, it is not an airborne disease.
7. Of course they're filling the planes to capacity; they always have. Air travel is a business that is meant to be profitable. They will hemorrhage money if they take off without the plane being filled as much as it can be.
8. The Ex is addressing the guy that she was sending those creepy texts to a few months earlier. I do not understand how or why The Ex feels he has any right to control where Daughter goes and when.
Listen, I don't want you guys to think that I'm a high-conflict stepmom. I'm not trying to find something to complain about with The Ex. Along with everything I've listed above, these are also reasons that I'm rolling my eyes at this objection to our trip:
1. The Ex was already mad at Husband months earlier for planning this trip over Daughter's 18th birthday (which is what Daughter asked us to do) and accused him of "trying to take [The Ex's] last week" or something like that.
2. Last month The Ex was driving all over God's green earth with Ned and her kids, going on a "waterfalling trip" which included well over 400 miles of driving and crossing into another state. But now, she's soooo scared that Daughter is going to contract COVID.
3. The Ex has been planning a birthday party for Son, Daughter, and their sister; she wants to throw this party on the Saturday following us returning from our trip. If The Ex was truly frightened by Daughter contracting COVID, then she'd have her quarantine at our house for 2 weeks after coming back to our state - not throw a damned birthday party while inviting all her family and friends over.
And with all of that being said, some of Husband's family members are completely frenzied over the state of things right now so we've already discussed this. We had already planned months ago on strictly going to his parents' house; not going to visit other family, not going to do any sight-seeing/activities, no shopping for the hell of it. Husband is going to talk to his parents and see how they feel. If they're scared and want us to stay home, then we'll reschedule; if they're comfortable with us coming, then we're still going to go. At this point, everyone else's opinion is irrelevant.
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