I would have fallen over. I just got off the phone with my SO and he just let it all out. Apparently he's having a rough week and he's had enough of the bullshit from the sociopaths.

Apparently, it doesn't matter that I've been gone for 6 weeks. They've continued to attempt to badmouth me to SO at every turn. He told me he's been shutting them down before they get too far, but today he lost his shit when the 16 year old started going on and on about what a bitch I am, what a horrible dad he is, and how SO chose me over them. (I'd like to point out that, had SO actually chosen me over them, they would no longer be living in the house...) I don't know details, since SO was so wound up that he could barely talk, but the gist of it is that he told his 16 year old to STFU and finally (FINALLY!) set the record straight about why he wasn't around as much as he was supposed to be when they were younger.

(For the record, he wasn't around because his CS was $250 per paycheck and, if he only worked 40 hours, he had $125 to live on each week. Which is fine if you don't have rent or need to eat or get gas. So, in order to survive, he worked 7 days a week, 16 hour days, so he could make that CS payment and not be in default and still have a roof over his head. As it is, for the first 6 months after he split from BM1, he was living in his car and showering at his brother's. And the reason his kids didn't know this is because he swore that he would never say anything that could be construed as badmouthing their mother. So these shitheads have been treating him like shit and throwing it in his face that he's a "bad father" because they had no idea what the truth was.)

He also set the record straight about the CS. The kids, being kids at the time, had no idea that their mother was getting CS. They thought she was this superhero mom who worked so hard to provide for them and they've had her on a pedestal for years because of it. Even though BM1 was abusive both emotionally and physically to them.

SO set the 16 year old straight today, right or wrong. I think he did the right thing. I know him well enough to know that, even in his anger, he told his son this information in the most respectful way possible, without ever calling her names or badmouthing her. These kids are old enough to know what really happened, and perhaps now SO will start getting the respect he deserves from them. He is the hardest working man I've ever met, working 6 days a week at work in sweltering heat so that he can give these kids what they want. (OH! And he told his kid that he was spoiled and that it ended today. That he didn't have any responsibility to give him anything other than a roof over his head, 3 squares and clothes on his back. Hallelujah!)

I think, for me, what really made me almost cry was his defense of me. I'm 800 miles from home and I miss him so much and this separation has sucked for both of us. And the most important thing he said today (according to him, not me), was that, even though I wasn't there and had no obligation to provide anything to them, I still help out. He told them that the day before I left, to make sure they all were taken care of, I dropped $300 on groceries. He told them that I've been paying bills from Georgia, even though I'm not there using the cable or the water or the electric. And he told them that their vocal disrespect of me ended today. He didn't want to hear anymore of it.

:jawdrop:

And he told his 14 year old daughter that he knew he was in the right relationship because she wasn't bitching. Apparently, she did nothing but complain about his other exes.

It was a very eventful 15 minute phone call...