A Little Bit of Me

I'm not sure that phrase works in Florida. Case in point: a recent experience my family had at the local Arby's restaurant.  This was a few weeks ago now, and my father, my Minion, and myself were out shopping and since it was close to lunch time and my Minion had been exceptionally well-behaved that day, we decided to reward her with Arby's. She loves the food and we don't get out to eat much, since taking my grandmother out in public usually ends in embarrassment.  So the three of us walk in and there's no one in the lobby. No customers. And no customers in the drive thru, as we had just walked past it to enter the building. The assistant manager was taking orders for the lobby, identified on her name tag as ASSISTANT MANAGER. I forget her name by now, but she was a cute little brunette. She took my father's order while my Minion and I took a detour to the bathroom. When we came back, my father asked if he was paying for us or if we were splitting it. I sa...

This blog post is very personal to me. My youngest, who I call Minion, has a deadbeat dad.Or sperm donor, as I usually call him. Long story short, he begged me to have a baby with him, which was my first mistake - giving in to his begging. Then, when I was 2 months pregnant and we had just gotten confirmation of my due date, he decided that he was scared and didn't want her anymore, so he tried to beat her out of me. I fought back and he went to prison. I gave birth in September 2012, and a year later, I moved to Florida, to get away from him. He had been out on bail before the trial and wouldn't leave me alone, even though there was a no contact order. Once I knew he would be going to prison, I notified him of my intent to move and took my minion to Florida, where my family is. I needed the support system and he didn't even attempt to keep us in Wisconsin.  Fast forward to April 2016. The sperm donor has been out of prison and on parole since December. He kept contacting...