This weekend my kids participated in their end-of-season recreational soccer league tournaments. It was a successful tournament overall with both kids playing well and my daughter's team winning the championship, and my son's team only going out in sudden-death penalty kicks (a bummer to lose, but they really were in the game the entire time). The weather was beautiful and all the games were enjoyable.
I, however, got to play referee between my parents again. Somehow, even though I moved over 500 miles away from where I grew up, I managed to have both my parents move near me... and I still have to play the separation game. It's exhausting, and it just adds to my feelings of being adolescent.
My parents separated when I was 14, and divorced when I was 15. Really, it was a relief because they never got along. My father re-married when I was 16, and for many years my parents actually managed to get along better...in part because he left my mom alone while he was married, and in part because my mother was more tolerant of him "for the sake of" us kids (or so she says).
After my father got divorced a second time, he was alone and I made the mistake of suggesting that he move near us.... a mistake because my mother was already here and it was a ticking time-bomb to have them living near each other. I actually realized that, but I wasn't going to tell him he *couldn't* live nearby, and I also hoped for the best.... but it did prove to be traumatic. My parents "tried" to be civil, but....well, it really didn't work very well. There was more than one holiday where I had to time their presence so they wouldn't have to be there at the same time, and kids' activities where I could only have one or the other there... and then all the guilt since neither of them had really any friends here.... ugh. Just not pleasant. :( So it was somewhat of a relief when my father decided to move back to Minneapolis shortly before we went on sabbatical in New Zealand.
But shortly before he moved back to Minnesota, he met a woman here.... and now he is back; living with her. I am happy for him - that he found someone - but it has made things more complicated for me again, and I feel guilty again. While he was gone, I focused on my mom, and she is alone and needs my help. Now that he is back, he has someone else to help him and he has really completely withdrawn from me....and yet I still feel guilty for not being more in touch. I am busy enough that most of the time I don't think about it. But today....
My mother has attended a lot of my kids' soccer games this fall. For most of the season, my father was traveling in Europe, so I didn't have to worry about whether he or my mother would be there....but he returned a couple weeks ago, and this weekend was the last weekend. And, my daughter has been playing well enough that she said she "wouldn't mind" her grandpa seeing her play. [To be honest, I had banned my father from my kids' soccer games for the last couple years because he was so vocally critical and negative (it was easy enough to "ban" him by just not telling him when they were). I decided that this would be a good game for him to see.]
My father is very passionate about his soccer, and really he is the reason I did *not* play soccer.... for him, it really does not seem to be a "game"... and he just doesn't seem to appreciate positive feedback. I did play a little when I was really young, but he made it so miserable.... and I was a pretty decent swimmer so I just concentrated on that. In fact, there was one time that I cried after a swimming race and my coach at the time told me that if I couldn't handle it maybe I should play soccer instead....and I was pretty determined to never cry in front of him again! I was willing to watch soccer with my dad, but I never wanted to play for him - his negative criticism was just too harsh. I had hoped that age would have mellowed him (and maybe it did!), but it didn't take long for me to decide that he did not belong on the sidelines at my kids' games.
But today I decided to try again. Rather than surprise my mom, I told her ahead of time....and she decided not to go. Although I was kinda annoyed by that, my kids understand; they have seen my parents together before and it is...uncomfortable... so I don't think they minded. But I admit it still bothers me. I wish it didn't have to be this way. I did enjoy the time with my dad, and my daughter's team won the game and my dad even said some positive things about the way she played(!). But it is still exhausting to play the referee between two parents who got divorced over 25 years ago.... it just seems so .... silly? unnecessary? wrong? But it is what it is, and I try not to judge. My mother doesn't want to be around my father, and I try to respect that. One of the final straws was a few years back when he jabbed a finger in her face and told her "according to the Catholic Church, we're still married".... I guess I don't blame her for not wanting to be around that. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is....
So here I am, still feeling like a kid who has to try to keep her parents apart and keep the peace. I remember when they were still married and I tried.... it obviously didn't work then either. They still will complain about the other and tell me how awful things were, and how the other person is to blame.... ugh... it really never ends. I don't like exposing my kids to that, but I guess it is good for them to see how toxic some people can be to each other. And I do my best to point out their good qualities and be loving and caring and forgiving. I do try, and I do love them.
But it is certainly sad. It is sad to have parents who can't be in the same place together. It seems crazy after all these years...but the reality for my parents is that time has actually made it stronger and they no longer feel the need to pretend to get along for "the sake of" anyone. And really, I guess that is their prerogative. I am pretty good at changing the subject when it comes up, and usually I can keep things pleasant....but I am obviously frustrated at having to continue to do it. But I can and I will, and it will all be fine.
My name is Jennifer, and I am a Middle-Aged Adolescent. :)
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