I was going to call this "Happy 1st Day of Spring" but "Hells Bells" has a certain ring to it

Good morning! At 5:05 this morning, after noticing Amena was already in the shower and waking Cedric up, I got the call that there would be a two hour delay for Quabbin Regional School District and that there may be no school at all. I heard the snow plow go by a couple of times and noticed that the snow was still coming down at 7:00 so I resisted making sure Cedric was getting up and at 7:05 the call came that there will be no school today in QRSD. That’s fine with me.

This is why no school today. I like it. Seth already voluntarily shoveled a path out to the barn. Now he and his brothers are playing with LEGOs upstairs.

Yesterday afternoon Cedric was messing around with my phone, watching things like The Walking Dead and Vikings and playing racing games. Dan usually calls Sunday afternoon and Cedric was under instruction to answer if he did. Well, he did. Twice. At 4:48 and 5:03. And Cedric didn’t answer. I spoke to him about it this morning and he said that the phone didn’t make any noise indicating a call and that nothing showed up on the screen. I suppose that is possible, sometimes, if you are watching something, nothing does show up. So I guess the rules will have to change to no phone until Dan calls.

This is why.

Message received from Dan on Sunday, March 20, 2016, 8:20 pm, duration of 50 seconds (cell phones are great because they give you all this information):

“Pam, I can be texted if you want to tell me someday the plans of visitation.

“And I’d like to talk to my children.

“When you’re not goin’ to be there, when you can’t answer the phone so I can talk to my kids, why don’t you guys call me so I can talk to my kids. I pay my child support. All kinds of crap has been going on for twenty-odd years. Who knows how… how long in hell.

“What if I was in your position and you were in my position? What if? Think: what if? How would you want me to treat you if you couldn’t see your kids and if I was cuttin’ you off from your kids?

“Hells bells.”

Hells bells indeed. I wish I could accurately depict the tone of voice because that really adds to the whole message.

My response via text: “It is late and I am going to bed so I will not answer my phone or respond to any texts tonight. It just so happens that Cedric had my phone and for some reason chose not to answer. I will have the boys call tomorrow. If you want to talk to me, you will need to choose your words more carefully because I do not have to put up with verbal abuse from you or anyone.”

I’d have them call right now but it is three hours earlier and even though I’m awake and often up at 5:26 in the morning, I would not necessarily want to be receiving phone calls. Unless you are one of the very few people I wouldn’t mind receiving one from.

It is very tempting to break the message apart and refute each piece but I am not going to do this. I will say that I’m not sure what crap he’s referring to that has been going on for twenty-odd years. Certainly not anything regarding visitation with Laura, Joanna, Daniel, Amena, Cedric, Seth, and Joseph because we’ve only been divorced for less than ten.

If he’s referring, which he wouldn’t be, to the verbal abuse, then, yes, it has been going on for twenty-odd years.

Our weekend was pretty good. Joseph and Seth and I went on the Pack 12 hike at Rome Conservation Area in Gardner. I did not know it even existed. It’s pretty rough which is nice. We actually did some walking in Winchendon as well and stopped at a creek/river/running water for snacks and then went back. We went out early and planted Joseph’s letterbox. We picked up the flea in the letterbox we were searching for as a pack.

This is an awesome tree trunk we saw on our hike Saturday. It is also a clue for the letterbox that the Cub Scouts found.

Cedric was at a Troop 12 campout in Ashburnham. They went to New Hampshire for some orientation hiking using compasses. Each boy was in charge of a section and Cedric said that for one part, they were literally walking in circles and on the third time past a pile of wood, he and another boy mentioned that they’d passed it twice.

Yesterday I left church early to pick Cedric up and cooked corned beef for lunch. Family Home Evening was pretty good-we talked about things that we know about our parents and grandparents. It’s nice to have grandparents and parents alive so we can ask them questions. There are a lot of things I’d love to ask my dad, his parents, Papa, and some of the great-grandparents that I knew growing up. Heck, there are things I’d like to ask Daniel. We need to get to know people while they are still with us in this mortal plane of existence because once they, or we, are gone, it’s kind of too late.

Anyway, have a fantastic first day of spring!

Just a little PS. Cedric had the phone for the first two calls Dan made yesterday. I'm not sure why no one heard the last call which resulted in the message but we didn't. Seth called just a few minutes ago (maybe 15 [I'd look but my phone is currently charging]) and got no answer.