Finally Some Good News

Well, Blog, I finally heard back from the kidney specialist. The CT scan showed that the cysts on my kidneys were normal and not cancerous. For now. I will have to get scans every year to make sure they aren't growing, but for now, I can stop going to the doctor every week. What a relief.

In other good news, in case I haven't mentioned it before, the divorce was finalized in May. Jackass isn't doing everything he agreed to do - not harass me, reimburse me for 60% of Monkey's medical bills, not try to poison Monkey against me - but at least I don't have to call him the soon-to-be-ex-husband anymore. He is officially the ex-husband, and I could not be happier about it. When he first said he wanted out over two years ago, I did everything I could to change his mind. I begged him to go to counseling. I pleaded with him to give it one more try for Monk's sake. But when I finally accepted that he really was going to leave, I realized I was better off. And while our son has had some difficulty adjusting and knowing who to trust, I think he is better off, too. I hate that I can no longer be a buffer for him when his dad gets crazy, and I will have to work a lot harder to show him that some of his dad's narrow-minded beliefs are what make this world a more negative place. But he and I are having a lot more fun now that it's just the two of us here and we don't have to walk on eggshells depending on his dad's mood. If we want to go to the movies or a concert, we go. We don't need anyone else's permission or have to put up with someone else saying we don't need to spend that money. If we want to have a lazy Saturday, hanging out in our pajamas all day, we can do it without someone else trying to make us feel bad about it. Life is pretty good.

The absolute best news is that Monkey has not let all this affect his schoolwork negatively. Instead, he still cares about making good grades. He doesn't necessarily feel like he has to do his 100% best on every assignment, but he does want to make sure he gets A's and as few B's as possible on his report cards. He's also taking on more responsibilities which I'm hoping will increase his confidence. He tried out for the school news team, which makes the morning announcements for the whole school. He was so excited when he made it! I think one of the ladies in charge of it knew about what was going on at home and thought it would be good for him. I am so grateful he has such caring teachers. His homeroom teacher appointed him school ambassador for his class. He gets to help deliver mail through the school every month and do some other things that identify him as a big shot 5th grader. Best of all was when his class voted him class president which put him on the school council. He ran against four girls, which I think got him the boy vote and split the girls' votes (and which I'm pretty sure crossed his mind when he realized no other boys were running), but he was still really proud. He laughed when he told me about the speech he gave where he told his class how responsible he was and all the stuff he did at home. I had to laugh at that part, too, considering his toys are all over this house instead of where they're supposed to be. He said he knew I'd laugh when I heard that. He's nothing if not a master manipulator. He definitely has a future in politics if he wants it. I only hope he uses his powers for good, not evil.

At any rate, I think he's going to be okay through all of this. Now that things are finalized and visitation is settled and not changing week by week, he's starting to calm down and not have so many outbursts. Mornings are still tough because neither one of us is a morning person, but I can live with that. All in all, I think we're both much happier.