Other People's Kids

New Stuff With "Celeste"

Well, stuff has been happening. "Celeste" is our current project, and what a project she is.

The timeline on Sunday, as best I can remember:

up until around 8:00: Spent time with Mom & Dad. Finished the downstairs bedroom with dad...it's really cool.

around 8: The Wife let "Celeste" go for a walk. She claimed she wanted to go to a place she knew that she could "think". Yes, I know, that should have been our first clue...but she promised she'd be back by 9.

9:15: Call the cops. We'd had enough. Enough of her jerking us around, enough of being the stupid ones. The Wife is majorly sick. I go in to sign the papers to designate "Celeste" as an official runaway.

9:30: Talk to the actual cop on the case. A nice guy...not sure if he's the one in our church, but we'll find out. He promised to find her.

10:00: I'm in the cop shop signing papers I've filled out. I GUESS she's 5'4...what do I know? She's my girl. I don't care beyond that and the fact that I miss her already.

11:00 They found her. As it turns out, she had been at a friend's house, and left when the heat came one (promptly, thanks to us). The K-9 unit found her freezing to death in a slough near her friends' house.

12:00 The Girl agrees to my terms. She comes home with me and goes directly to bed. Do not pass Go, do not collect so much as a dime. She's off the internet permanently. We love her, but will not stand by while she destroys herself. SHE AGREES. She still has some love for herself, apparently. We, perhaps stupidly, agree.

As it has come out over the last couple of days, she and The Wife have been subpoenaed to appear in court over the statutory rape case that I believe I have described before. "Celeste" is absolutely PETRIFIED to testify. And that is why she has caused the problems recently (including self-piercing her lip, thenkyewveddymuch). At least we know why all this is happening. We've been ready to cut bait until we found out what's really been driving her behavior.

So. I love this girl. So does The Wife. And yet, we have mutually decided that we can't live with her if her recent behavior is going to be the norm. Yet, we further learn that she has pretty decent reason to act out. So do we forgive and forget? Or do we kick her out on general principles?

No. We can't kick her out. And yet, we can't just let the gross displays of disrespect go unnoticed. So...she will no longer have the luxury of the internet. She will no longer have the luxury of attending the church youth group, which we know she's been skipping anyway. She WILL have our attenion. She's a smart girl. I intend on teaching her chess...and she will play me, and hopefully learn how to beat me. She probably will, if she doesn't end up in a residential facility. Because she's a smart girl, because I love her, and because I've decided that Chess is her vehicle to sanity.

posted by Dan @ 8:59 PM