desirae, thank you for sharing your story with me. I'm glad that you were able to turn things around.

My daughter hasn't lived with me for four years but occassionally an issue will come up and it's hard for most people to relate to how I react and feel.

I'm expecting a confrontation from my ex, who thinks I should help my daughter by co-signing for her college loans. Even though she lives with him he doesn't get why I won't help her. I feel like everyone thinks I'm just a miserable parent - because I won't help her and I sent her to live somewhere else. When people ask me how many kids I have, I either say one (I have one that lives with me) or two (I have another son that lives with his dad). If I mention I have a daughter people assume we have a normal relationship when it's worse than miserable. I don't even talk to her. I've tried and it's just bad.

I hope she can someday turn things around and live a more positive life.

Sorry. I just have a lot of junk built up which is partly why I have been seeking people who can relate.