Awesomesauce part 2 or "How the system is broken"

I am fortunate enough to have gotten a second chance.

I met and married a wonderful woman, she makes each day happier than the next.
She came with two boys that are both awesome in their own way. I'm not their Daddy, but I honestly strive to be the Father that they both deserve. Richy is bound and determined to work with his hands and his brain like I do, (Even though he knows how bad it can suck sometimes), mark my words, he will be runnin shit for somebody before he is 30.
Who knows what the future will hold for Nick, but I'm willing to bet it is brighter than the sun, that boy amazes me everyday with his ability to just "figure out stuff."
I have a very good job, I get to do something that I love and get paid better than probably 90% than most of Mayberry.

Pretty much a perfect life, I don't get to see Lil as much as I would like, but overall I wouldn't have it any different.

I have often wondered if this happiness angers some people, because they honestly seem to try and make my life hell every chance they get.

I pay Lil's mom $200.00 each and every week. It was my understanding that the money was to provide Lil with "The same standard of living she would have if she lived with me." That's fine with me, all I have ever asked for in return was to be involved in my Daughter's life and spend as much time with her as possible. (In reality attempts have been made to totally eliminate me from her life.)

For some reason, the state of Louisiana has a double standard when it comes to family law.
I am court ordered to pay child support, if I don't play by these rules they will put me in JAIL.
In the same court order, I have clear cut custody rights....but if Lil's mom chooses to ignore them the law doesn't seem to apply. "It's a civil matter, you need to hire a lawyer"
To a stupid Millwright contempt of court works both ways.....to a highly educated judge it really doesn't though.

Well, I don't know about where you live, but in Saline,Louisiana 800-1000 bucks a month is pretty hard to swallow,especially when no account of where it goes is ever made.

Lil moves to LSMSA in August. She will alternate weekends between here and her mom's house, with the summer spent equally as well. This might lead a person to believe that the "custodial" parent's expenses in relation to her would go down, what with her living at the school and all.
Less groceries to buy, even things like electricity and water usage would be reduced.
(I bring this up because it was explained to me that child support pays for those things.)

When Lil got accepted my teeny tiny Millwright brain reasoned all of this out. I called her mom and proposed this.

Lil's room and board split between us 50/50 and that we would open her up a bank account and give her a debit card, with each of us putting in $50.00 per week. Surely Lil can buy everything she could want or need with $400.00 a month?
This earned me a cussing and several days of denial of custody.
So, I filed a motion for reduction with our wonderful court system.

I figured surely they would see the logic of my reasoning.

BOY, WAS I WRONG.

I went to court yesterday,
right off the bat it seemed that the woman from the child support office was mad at me for having the gall to ask for a reduction.
I explained my reasoning and proposal to them.......they looked at me like I was suggesting clubbing baby seals for fun.

They proceeded to RAISE my obligation.

Evan said she needed more money because of "extra education expenses."
For the life of me I can't fathom how this reasoning works.
Somehow it seems I got the idea that I needed to provide for my Daughter's needs,
They showed me that in reality I will provide for her Mother's wants as well.

Awesomesauce, With a side of bile and hatred, Part one.

I love my Daughter....
with all of my heart and soul,the sun in my life quite literally rises and sets on her.
I am truly sorry that me and her Mother can't seem to get along.

Which brings us to the latest in these demented rants.

Lil is smart, like "smartest kid in the whole school smart"
Back when she was little (about 7 or 8 I guess) she remarked to me that she was bored with school.
"Daddy" she says to me "How come the teacher keeps teaching me stuff that I already know?"

Well, I could honestly relate, I got bored with school at about that same age, figured out how to make barely passing grades with no effort whatsoever. All I wanted was to be left alone to read.....
still ended up with a full-paid college scholarship that I proceeded to waste because I had no idea how to apply myself and study.

One nice sunny day, not long after Lil was born,facing a 16 hour shift with the temp on the paper machine floor hovering around 140 degrees I vowed to myself that I would never let that happen to my Daughter.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the career that I have, but a man tends to wonder about what "might have been" when the "physical" side of the Millwright world comes to call.

Anyhoo, I started explaining to Lil about LSMSA and everything that they could offer a smart,beautiful child like her. "Lil", I said "Daddy really wanted to go there when he was a kid, but he was lazy and his grades weren't good enough, so you'll have to try really hard if you want to go there"

Little did I know that this would inspire a dream in Lil to do just that. She had to submit an essay about "Why I want to go to LSMSA"when she first started the application process. It literally brought tears to my eyes when I read it, her opening paragraph recounted that long ago conversation.

Of course she got accepted.
Lil is truly her Father's daughter, from her left handedness to her love of reading, her taste in music,her love of computers, even proving that Girls CAN rock at Warcraft... we were best friends for 11 years.
I did my best to teach her that the world was hers for the taking. That she was the smartest,coolest,prettiest little girl in the whole wide world. (Because she was and is)

If 15 years ago I had called up God and custom ordered everything a man could want in a Child, she is exactly what He would have sent.

I am truly grateful and extremely full of pride that she worked so hard and earned this opportunity.

It's a damn shame that it has to be tempered by hatefulness and bile.

See part 2 for the story.