Whirlwind Trip

My dad is my hero. He offered to buy a house for M and I to live in, since I won't be able to do that on my own for sometime. He arrived last Thursday and we hit the ground running. My poor 78 year-old dad went in and out of 19 houses, mostly 2-story, over 2 days. For him it was like running 2 back-to-back marathons. But he made it! Fortunately, by Monday evening we had a signed purchase agreement. We found a house that both M and I will be happy in for a long time. We can start our new lives without the weight of a 3100 square foot house with 4 acres hanging over my head! Hallelujah!!

I now have a boat load of packing to do. And I have to get the old house rented out. I have a property manager coming to get things started on Monday. Hopefully it will be rented out not long after we move to our new house.

The latter part of my dad's trip to Minnesota consisted of final touches on the transaction and me trying to negotiate with JY. First off, I'm so happy I hired an attorney to represent me. I wish JY would have done the same right away. I've been going back and forth with him trying to settle most of the issues in our divorce before filing the case. My attorney advised that we should do so to avoid costly pre-trial meetings, etc. I thought JY would agree to a settlement. I gave him a deadline of noon today and he asked to push it back to the end of today. Not sure how this will go. He said he wanted to do this amicably and not have a protracted divorce. Then in response to my offer, he starts asking for alimony, part of my pension and other things for himself. Funny that my offer was for the benefit of M and his was all about himself.

Last night I gave him my last/best offer, for which I'm awaiting a response. I told him if he didn't accept it, then it was off the table and we'd start from scratch. I'm even willing to take my offer of joint custody off the table. A judge can decide if giving custody to an adulterous, lying, over-drinking, gambling, wreckless driving father is in M's best interest or not.

Here's hoping he comes to his senses by 4:30 PM.