We carry a sensitive cargo

The Barrie mother, Francis Elaine Campione, who drowned her two very young children was found guilty of first degree murder today. Three things really telling: she referred to them as "my" children, she felt god believed her, and she felt he had won. The first two act as the self-entitling empowerment to do what she did but it's the third thing which I figure is what pushed her over the edge that night. The court appearance was only a day or two away and she probably saw the writing on the wall... she was going to lose custody.

It's time for the family law judges to stop pussy footing around with separating parents. Default shared parenting is the only way I can see any rapid improvement occurring, and after these Campione type stories, i want RAPID change!

I've been reading the comments people have been making all day about this story and now it's past my bedtime. The post title here will link you up to the story and some 400 comments...

I've been most remiss with posting. Just after my last post, after seven long years of custody battling, we transitioned to equal shared parenting using a week-about framework.

So soon (I promise) I will post again to discuss the future of family law and the future of my family : )

Here we come out of the cradle Endlessly rocking Endlessly rocking

The new decade dawns with Galileo's 4ooth and COP15 ringing in my ears like a hangover. Yet we grew and we survived the decade from hell which makes me think I really can handle the pushes over the cliff this crazy corrupt world keeps wanting to see us endure. I think it was love that saw us through it before and now, coupled with more knowledge and understanding, we stand a reasonably good chance of thriving in the decade to come.

"It's the hand
that rocks the cradle
It's the motion
that swings the sky

It's method on the edge of madness
It's a balance on the edge of a knife
It's a smile on the edge of sadness
It's a dance on the edge of life

Surge of energy, spark of inspiration
The breath of love is electricity
Maybe Time is a bird in flight
Endlessly mocking

Here we come..."

You can be the Captain and I will draw the Chart

The bad news first; a mother in Quebec killed her two children this week. For once it doesn't appear that a custody battle was raging. A mother in Toronto killed her 18 month old son last week. Custody battle.
The good news is that i have decided that if she wants to litigate, let her litigate. Until then everything significant remains the same. The judge said "it's a good offer, I should take it, litigating isn't in the best interests of the children" So why would she want to go there?
At the least I've won time.
The experienced one downtown in La Villa Stangiato foreshadowed trouble ahead in choosing this path but alas... Every sole a battlefield.
Plus c'est change, plus c'est le mem chose.
Glad I'm not an Oak. Balanced I will be.

We began at the very first Spring

Tomorrow is the Spring Equinox and as the vid "Circumstances" below remarks, I should get in the Way Back Machine and tell you what's been going on since the last post. How do I put this...

Why don't I give you The Good News First. We're alive and doing quite well. It looked pretty grim after the court proceeding in very early 2008. I was unemployed and on the verge of eviction and bankruptcy. Fortunately we had an offer for a rent free place to stay. It was awkward but it felt like moving in with my Mom and the kids were alright so it worked out. The packing / moving took a couple of weeks and the phone rang in the near empty place when it shouldn't have because I had cancelled the service. I was being offered a job and a house and flexibility in my sched because the person at the other end of the phone is somewhat familiar with the situation. A dream come true to a man in the "degrading psychological gulag", and it has since materialized. Poetic Justice par excellence.

But the legal monster has reared it's ugly head and put me between a rock and a hard place. See, as the vid says, I was tricked by circumstances. Do I still have the Innocence that gives the confidence to go up against Reality? As the Snakes And Arrows song says... "in the shakiest will there's a core of steel...
I guess it's not bad news after all. Time if nothing else will do it's worst, so there's your favour, the good news first : )
Truth is a simple place, Peace is a word we teach. Homeworld

A Far Cry

We started this game of Monopoly after dinner New Years Day and picked it up again on the 6th. Monopoly was created in 1935. The object of the game is to take over all the property so the other players wind up bankrupt, presumably living in boxes under bridges.
So this is our first game ever and a brand new gameset. All three of us rolled our way into Jail and here we are. Together. What are the odds?
"It's a far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit. It's a far cry from the way we thought we'd share it."

School gates remind us of our class

Boy and Girl Together. Like a tag team, boy ends his Kindergarten Wall time and hands it over to girl.

'Til bursting forth from rocky chains the valley floods with Light