Bing Bong Hot Dog

This past weekend during my daughter’s birthday party, a few of us adults were sitting around in the living room while all the kids played. Somehow my social media life became a topic of conversation. It’s been a long standing joke in my family that I’m much too open with my life. My brother took this opportunity to poke fun at it with his jokes of satire.

It’s true though. I’m sometimes much too open for my own good and some day it may even catch up with me. My thought process for this however is that I’m a good guy (in my own mind). I don’t do drugs, I’m not a troublemaker, I think I’m a good father to my children, I try to respect people at all costs even when their opinions differ, and I generally have a good disposition about life. If I was anything less than these things, then maybe I’d be worried. But the truth is, I have nothing to hide. I make no attempts at hiding much of anything in my life, including my political views, my handguns, and Christian beliefs.

To further my vulnerability, I’ve decided to talk about my latest life drama. I have been divorced for nearly 2.5 years now. I have custodial rights for my children and have them 67% of the time. I chose not to take child support from my ex-wife. Financially for me, this has proven to be overwhelming since the daycare bills alone equal more than $800/month. I make a descent wage for the career I’m in but at the end of the month, there’s not a whole lot left over.

Over the past few years I’ve also worked at whittling away debt and have done very well at it. I finally came to a point though where I needed help. Rather than put myself in a situation where debt would overrun my life or I became so late on bills that I’d start having things shut off, I decided to swallow my pride. I talked with my parents initially to ask for their opinions on what I could do. Of course the option of getting a 2nd job came up but given that I only have a few weekday nights of solitude, working a $7/hr job for 10-12 hours a week didn’t seem like it would cut it. The final option was for me to move in with my parents; an idea that I was not very comfortable with since I’m 33 years old. After a week of contemplating and deep thought, I decided to give in. After all, my pride is not nearly as valuable to me as the welfare of my children.

I’m working hard on a promotion at work and with any luck, by the end of the year or even the beginning of 2010, I’ll land the gig and my monthly income will grow; thus allowing me to substantiate a more fruitful and vibrant lifestyle for my children. I keep telling myself this is a temporary situation. I’m embarrassed to talk about it, but when I do, people are generally ok with it.

My parents have been nothing but nice to me. They respect my privacy and have given me enormous amounts of love. I am truly blessed to be their son. My bedroom is essentially the dining room for the time being but I’m ok with it. It’s helping me to make sure my family is taken care of. While it would hinder any kind of dating relationship I ever get into, I hope that a woman will be able to see past “living with my parents” and realize that I’m not doing it out of laziness but rather for the safety and well being of my children. If a woman DID have a problem with it, then reevaluation would surely see me walking out of that relationship.