Sistah Pat

The forecast says 68 degrees for today’s high and 76 for tomorrow.  There’s still a chance for rain on Sunday but the rest of the weekend looks mighty nice!  It ought to be fun to take the twins and Manny up to Edinburgh for some shopping and grilling out.

You’re not going to believe this…there’s a fly buzzing around my head.  Where the heck did he come from?  It seems like all you need is a mention of warmer weather and the mosquitoes and flies start rejoicing.

Not a whole lot going on today.  I’ll be tied up at work until around 3:30 and then we’ll come home, throw some clothes in the RV and hit the road.  There won’t be any wifi at the RV campground so I guess I won’t be blogging until Sunday afternoon.  I’m going to get off here and try to catch up on a couple of blogs.

6:00 am. - Just weighed myself.  I’m at 176 today so I’m making progress.  Three pounds this week.

4:30 - Got home and DH said, “Do you mind if we drive up to Edinburgh tomorrow?  I’m tired.”  Okay, I can live with that.  Guess we’ll just hang around here this evening.

Did a little research into T’s situation today.  Found out that Mom isn’t in the picture because she was physically abusive to him.  Stuff involving cigarette burns, scalding, and beatings.  My God…

Word is that Dad might not be much better.  Found out that T can’t read and he resists any kind of help with learning to read.  Because he can’t read, he can’t do math, or science, or any of his other work.  I don’t know what the answer is.  I really don’t.  Maybe Bill is right.  ”Just love him, Pat.  He needs some love.”  I don’t see that as any real answer to what’s going on with him.  Of course, it’ll help him with his confidence and self-esteem but it sure doesn’t help with math or reading or his home situation.  But then, is foster care any better than what he’s got?  I don’t know.  Why is this child not in intensive counseling?  Why doesn’t anyone try to work with him?  Maybe they have.  I haven’t walked in their shoes.  I’m the new kid in town.

I keep thinking I ought to DO something.  Call somebody, report somebody.  But then, everyone seems to be aware of it already.  Is it still going on and T denies it or is this just the result of what happened in the past? Did anyone bother to check?  I know T gets regular visits from a truancy officer and I assume that person would be working with him to get to the bottom of the problem.  Wouldn’t he?  And then, if he’s missing so damn much school, why are we constantly suspending him? Either we bite the bullet and deal with him or we send him to an alternative school where they can handle him.

Maybe I can’t deal with all that.  Too much pushing would send him over the edge and I have a feeling he would resist any kind of help with the family situation with the same kind of aggression he shows when anyone tries to help him with academics.  He won’t let anyone in.  For now, I’m going to wait for him to come back to school and just keep trying to earn his trust and advocate for him the best that I can.  Maybe, at this point in his life, academics don’t mean a thing.  I don’t guess it matters if he can read when he’s so lost in everything else.  It may be that he has to open up to a relationship before he can even begin to open up to any other kind of help.  So sad.  All those broken children out there and I don’t know how we’re supposed to fix them.  I’ll never be able to understand how people can treat children badly.  It breaks my heart.