((((hazydays))))

You are in such a sad situation. You shouldn't be pulled back and forth between your parents, but in a war there has to be two sides and there has to be a pledge, wrong as it is, it happens. I do think however that your mother is setting you up for when she leaves. She is waiting to seperate when your dads retirement money comes in and if she goes before that she has nothing. Very sad and very manipulative too. If I were her if I was unhappy I'd have gone long ago money or no money.

I think your dad has been as patient as he can be but doesn't understand bipolar if he did things may have been somewhat different. When it comes down to it being 17 you have the choice of who you live with. You need peace and balance in your teen years especially while you are still in school, so that you can do your best to achieve things you want to achieve in college. You don't need to live in a situation where you are being called on to be the peer to your mother; she is the adult and should act like it.

I can see your mom moving to Las Vegas to be near her sister, but I am concerned about you and your brother going with her. She needs to be in treatment and you don't need to be her carer whilst she is in treatment, which I feel is what she will make you. I think your dad understands that and that is why he would go for custody. That in itself raises a whole bunch of other questions and situations because you know that your mom will never let up about it; that is not the way to make a decision about where you should live. I just think your dad is the stable head in the relationship and I guess because I was so close to my dad, I would suggest you live with your dad simply because he is the one more likely to ensure a stable lifestyle until you go to college, at which time you are free to make your own decisions about everything,

Good luck with it hazy, we will be here to support you as best we can,

Rhiannon