Bloomin' Boobs

Becky and Roger respected my dad immensly without knowing any history of our relationship. They posed themselves as the perfect surrogate parents for my children and they did do a good job taking care of their every day needs. I found it extremely puzzling to me that on nice days my kids were never outside playing. They were ALWAYS outside when they could be. In fact, none of the other kids on the block went outside until they were outside. When she finally did let them out of the house they were only able to play in the backyard and she never had done that before with her own child. She just didn't want me to watch them playing.
"Would it be okay if the kids called me mom"? Becky asked me. "I just thought it would make them feel more like a part of our family and there wouldn't be confusion on what to call me."
I wasn't sure how to respond to that, but I remember having women in my life who were like a second mom to me, but I never called them mom.
I felt like shit. I couldn't cook, I couldn't clean. I couldn't get up off my couch. I couldn't even walk across the street to see my children. Becky always kept me in the loop of what was going on with them. She even made daily phone calls to my dad to update him on me.
I figured the kids needed time to settle into their new home so I justified keeping my distance. I didn't want to interfere with Becky and Roger and how they parented. I didn't want my children to come to me and say, "Well, they made me do the dishes." I didn't want them to manipulate me against Becky and Roger, which they had done in the past in other with my ex-husband and myself.
In hindsight, letting them settle in and keeping distance was a huge mistake on my part. Becky didn't just make small changes with what the kids were use to, but she started to make some big changes too. One change I absolutely hated was that she decided Mickaela didn't need to go tutoring.
"Mickaela wants to be normal," Becky said. "She doesn't want to go tutoring anymore and I think 'eye' therapy would be better for her."
"Eye therapy"? I asked.
"Yes. Dr. Clark can work with her and make more progress with her than her tutor has in five years." Becky said.
I disagreed. Eye therapy wasn't going to improve her dyslexia. Children who are dyslexic can learn, they just learn differently than say you or I. Mickaela did wear glasses and may benefit from eye therapy, but to take away her tutoring was just plain irresponsible in my opinion.
Becky disagreed with me and said, "Dannae, is not your friend, she is an employee."
Mickaela may have not liked going to tutoring three days a week, and may in fact have been tired, but her tutoring was more than just instruction. Dannae had been a part of her life from the time she had been in first grade.
She was my friend, but more importantly Dannae was someone Mickaela could talk to and felt comfortable around.