My husband and I did not agree in character, which is how the reason for the divorce was officially stated in court. We did not divide the property, the only thing my ex-husband asked the judge to do was to schedule time with the children, he and I had two daughters. Even without a court order, I would not have prevented the children from communicating with their father, especially since they are very attached to him, and were very upset that we were going our separate ways. But never mind, he asked, so he asked. As a result, there was a clause in the court order that obliged me to give the children to their father on every even Saturday and Sunday of the month. Together with my husband, we had already decided that he would pick up the girls on Friday evenings, so that Saturday would be their first day of the month.
A week ago my husband came to pick up the kids as usual, and I packed them full – clothes, toys, first aid kit. They had toothbrushes and slippers at Daddy’s apartment.
I’m going to digress a little bit. My ex-husband lives with my mother and grandmother. Husband’s grandmother is over ninety, she is still quite energetic for her years, the health limitations are purely age-related, of course, no longer runs, often lies down to rest and, recently, began to lose his hearing intensely, to communicate with her, you have to almost shout, and a hearing aid grandmother does not want to wear.
So, my husband took the girls, the older one has a phone to contact me, I call a couple of times during the weekend and ask how they are doing, for my own peace of mind.
Last Friday I somehow wanted to call earlier:
– Hey, what are you and Dad doing?
– And he had already left for his birthday party…
– Are you and Grandma playing?
– She’s gone too…
– …?
– She said she’d be home tonight. She got called on the phone…
I interrupted the conversation and called my husband back:
– What’s going on, why are the girls with great-grandma?
– What is the problem, their mother will come in the evening, and I won’t be home for the night…
– And why did you take them if you were not going to communicate?
– Grandmother-grandmothers communicate…
– I want to disappoint you, great-grandma communicates with them, and that’s the only one!
– Mom went to a friend’s for her anniversary, I know that.
– Are you aware that great-grandmother sleeps more than she is awake, and hardly ever hears?! I’m on my way to get the kids!
Half an hour later, I was already ringing the doorbell at my former mother-in-law’s apartment. The door swung open, and there was my daughter on the doorstep.
– Daughter, why didn’t you even ask who was calling?
– I thought grandma came…
– Where’s the other granny?
– She’s sleeping.
– What are you doing?
– We’re out on the balcony breathing air and blowing soap bubbles, Dad bought us two bottles!
After “we’re out on the balcony breathing air,” my knees got warm. I sat down on the bench by the door, and for a minute came to my senses. Two preschool-aged girls breathing air on the eighth floor, and blowing bubbles!
While we were getting ready, my great-grandmother woke up. She was surprised to see me:
– Who opened the door for you?
I didn’t spend half an hour explaining to the deaf person who opened the door, and what the children were doing while she was asleep, I just speeded up the process of getting ready, and we waved our hands and left. Great-grandmother was really upset:
– Well, did not keep track, and now the children are taken away…
Literally an hour later my phone changed color to bright red. My husband called, my mother-in-law called, and they were outraged at my “arbitrariness. They even recalled the decision of the court. I interrupted their angry tirades with a simple question:
– And what do you think, dear former relatives, how safe it is for two girls to blow soap bubbles from the eighth floor, standing on an open balcony without adults?
Both my husband and mother-in-law mumbled something unintelligible, and I finished them off with the next question:
– And why the front door easily opened by a child, and the great-grandmother – no idea?
After a few days, my husband gave in, promising that he would no longer leave his daughters, neither with their grandmother nor with their great-grandmother, and that they would spend their weekends together with him, at least in his presence. I relented, making him promise that if he couldn’t be with the girls, he wouldn’t pick them up, so the kids wouldn’t get upset.
So that’s settled it. I hope that in the future everything will be as we agreed, and that I won’t have to control the situation too much.
