The Nintendo game of Life

Today is early release day for the kids. This is the first time this year that it has fell on a Wednesday and the first time I have ever been late picking up the girls from school. They ended up waiting back in the office while I went to get them. Of course, the phone call from the school to my ex went down like a fart in a divers helmet. Count backwards from 3 - 2 - 1.. Brrrrring there goes the phone, ranting and raving ex on the other side of what was a peaceful existence for a few brief moments in time. I do recall getting the email from the ex saying was early release about 1 month ago but it just slipped through the cracks. My bad. At first I was apologetic, it was an error on my part, a human oversight. It didn't matter how bad I felt, she had to pile it on with additional 'what would have happened if...' doomsday scenarios. It's another opportunity for her to exercise some muscle, play the control freak, and generally bask in the opportunity to have a go at me. And then I realised, her rage wasn't coming out of a fear for the children's safety it was just another golden opportunity to score a few points to be used against me as we continue to battle over visitation and custody rights.

The thing I find totally frustrating about my new found position in life is that I feel that I'm operating in my own version of some kind of Nintendo game. Yesterday I had 3 lives left and 1000 points. Today I still have 3 lives but I'm down to 500 points. Depending on whether she decides to tell her lawyer that I was late picking up the girls or not will determine whether I get to keep a life.

The thing about these points is that they never go up. Doesn't matter how many levels you clear or hoops you jump through, the points never, ever go up. They only go down. It doesn't matter that this week I took time away from work to take care of the girls because she needed to be away. All that matters is I fucked up and that'll cost me.

Fortunately, when it comes to Nintendo games, young children are much better than adults and when they see my points going up and they find ways to express their happiness. Sometimes the points come down but they have untainted hearts that allows forgiveness to easily flow. We could learn a lot more from children if we wanted to and not just about Super Mario Brothers. That's what keeps me sane.