Thank you wingin'it. My gosh that sounds so close to my situation and my thinking that it's almost scary...lol. However my kids have lived with their dad after our divorce even though we had joint custody he created a situation where it was hard to get them to visit me. He got them into motor cross and at first he would ask if he could take them racing on my weekends then he just took it for granted and took them anyway. So if I forced the kids to come here they were little monsters. I should have fought for custody but I didn't expect for him to want to keep them with him for very long on a full time basis. Anyway the kids favor him big time and no doubt he bad mouthed me so it affected my relationship with my son and daughter. My girl is 19 and my boy is going on 17 soon. Hoping things will get better when they are older and married with kids. My relationship with my mom blossomed once I was married with children. So I can always hope.
Thank you for sharing your understanding wingin'it...it sure does help (maybe more than you realize).