My tax refund was deposited into my account today. What does this have to do with stepparenting, you might ask? Well, it has everything to do with the official blending of our family in fact.

This tax refund will finance the lawyer we are retaining to finalize the divorce from his ex, after 4 long years of her refusing to close it and us sitting idly by, completely impotent to her power because we could never afford a lawyer to give her the smackdown.

We had SD over the weekend and we usually try to give them some "D&D time" (Daddy & Daughter time) alone together. Well, when they were having some of their quality D&D time together yesterday, SD just came out of the blue to ask some really bizarre questions that could have only come from BM herself. Here's how my fiance recounted the conversation to me. I'm probably leaving some things out, but this is the gist of it.

We have SD this weekend and she will finally be returning to school on Monday, so BM called my fiance just now, wanting to make sure she would have a restful weekend with us. Fine, good attempt at coparenting. (We were already going to do this and don't need her telling us, but any communication that doesn't involve her hurling accusations at us is a huge step.) Then she tried to tell us what movies to watch, what time to go to bed and get up, and not to take SD horseback riding as if any of that is her business. I'm so sick of her trying to control our household!

My mom has been so worried about SD (as we all have!) that she decided to write a letter to SD's therapist. I wanted to share it with all of you, because it is so spot on.

Dear Dr. M,

I am writing with shared concern regarding your patient, SD. My daughter Caitlin has informed me of the current situation. SD’s father, BF, may have spoken to you about my resolve to involve Social Services in order to ensure SD’s safety and well being.