We have a new court date. It is in January. Happy about that but sad at realizing that it is still going on!

Here is a brief time-line for what has gone on.

August 2006 I left and took the two older monkeys (at that time that was all the monkey’s I had) and went to a women’s shelter.

In September 2006 I started therapy and allowing the will be ex to see the middle monkey.

In October 2006 I stopped therapy with the will be ex because I was moving into an apartment and was unable to afford therapy with the will be ex and the rent, food, gas, and all the bills.

In November 2006 I moved into my apartment and was still working on making the marriage work but was very doubtful of it was going anywhere.

In December 2006 I asked the will be ex for financial help. He went me an email back telling me he didn’t have time to talk about it or think about it and that he really didn’t have the money to do it but he would get back to me when he could. Two days after I got this email a friend called me telling me that she had seen my will be ex buying a motocross bike. I decided to find a lawyer and file for divorce.

In January 2007 I filed for divorce. When he was served he started to call my phone. Called over 100 times in less than 24 hours. He called off working on the marriage as long as I was filing for divorce because he couldn’t possible make a marriage work if I was filing for divorce.

In January 2007 I met jack in the box. We started to talk and became friends.

In February 2007 I lost my job and had a blood clot. The will be ex decided to try and help me by keeping the middle monkey until Monday mornings. He refused to go back to what we were doing.

In March 2007 I was told by the will be ex that he had an illness that would kill him. I decided I really needed to give it another try. He was dying and I felt really bad for him. I was talking with jack in the box and he agreed. About 2 weeks after I had the talk with the will be ex and jack in the box my grandpa died. Jack in the box and I ended up conceiving my youngest monkey.

In April 2007 my cousin died and I found out I was pregnant. I told my family and that didn’t go over really well (actually I was pretty much ignored by my family the whole pregnancy). I also told jack in the box.

In May 2007 came a new lawyer for my will be ex. That was not a ton of fun. Court started again with the new lawyer. It was like we had never even been there prior to that point.

In June 2007 the will be ex called me crying and upset and begging me to try to make it work. I told him I was pregnant and there was no going back to what we were. I had no desire. I just wanted to go on and make life work.

In July 2007 we were in court but it went no where.

In August 2007 we were court ordered to go to mediation. I thought we came to an agreement while we were in there. After we left we implemented the mediation agreement/letter. About a month later though we found out that there were issues with the letter and the will be ex would not allow it to be put into an order.

September 2007 through December 2007 were a nightmare. There were tons of problems with the holidays. We went to court a few times here and there. Lots of reasons why.

In January 2008 I was feeling very depressed and wondering how much longer I would possible deal with the turmoil my life held daily. We had been in this divorce for 12 months at that point and it felt as if we had gotten no where.

From February 2008 – April 2008 we had more issues. The will be ex was getting the middle monkey to school late. We had numerous court hearing for who knows what at this point. Finally were order in April to have to go to Parenting Time Coordination to try and come to an agreement on custody.

In May 2008 we had a couple meetings with the lady at friend of the court and it was determined that we needed to have a custody evaluation done. There was no compromising and she was pulling herself from our case.

In June and July 2008 more court hearings and more issues come up. We had moved into another school district. The will be ex agreed to the change of school (we transported the kids back and forth for 4 months after we moved).

In August 2008 we had a lot going on. Court hearing that ordered the will be ex and his lawyer to finally put the mediation agreement into a court order. We had a trial/settlement for everything other than custody. We started the custody evaluation.

In September 2008 I was charged with truancy because the middle monkey missed part of the first day of school. Following my lawyers orders and keeping him out until the judge had made a decision. He was able to change school districts. Then there was an accident at the end of the month. The will be ex never took him to a doctor and still to this day denies he got hurt. This was the reason start to the end of this big mess.

In October 2008 we were in court regarding the accident and the will be ex not following doctors orders.

In November 2008 we started to see a specialist and a big problem with the Thanksgiving holiday.

In December 2008 we continued to see the specialist and struggled with holidays.

In January 2009 I realized that we were on year two of this divorce. Also we got the custody evaluation with a recommendation for me to have sole physical and legal custody. We also met with the specialist and the will be ex got into it with her. The last things were we started PT for the middle monkey and he had a neurological evaluation.

In February 2009 we got the rejection/objection to the custody evaluation.

In March 2009 we went to court. Yet again the will be ex didn’t show up. We had a mutual restraining order placed upon us both. The official object to the custody evaluation was placed with the courts and it was only a matter of time before we were given a trial date.

In April 2009 we were in court yet again because the will be ex had to aquire yet another lawyer and they were objecting to the mutual restraining order.

In May 2009 we were given our date for the trial. We were granted 3 hours at the end of June. We were in court for something but I really don’t remember why.

In June 2009 it was the end of the school year. It was the 1st of many trial dates. It was the start of some a heated debate about what our visitation agreement was.

In July 2009 I had to call the police to get the will be ex to leave. We went on vacation and I was supposed to be held in contempt of court for not showing up for a hearing (while we were on vacation). We ended up in court because of a bunch of lies that were submitted to the court; which were proven to be lies. Plus the will be ex lost even more time with his son because of him taking me to court (which he yet again didn’t show up for).

In August 2009 we got another date for the next hearing in September. We also ended up in court for something but I don’t remember what it was.

In September 2009 we were in court 2 times in less than 5 days. We had the objection to the lost time and we had our trial (#2). Pretty much it was the will be ex on the stand the whole time. Talk about nerve wracking! I was pulling my hair out.

In October 2009 we didn’t go to court once. It was a nice change and we were told when our next date was in November. We had a good October.

In November 2009 we had to go to court for our trial again. We were there for #3. The will be ex was on the stand forever again and then they added another witness and then it was finally my turn. We also got notification for the next trial date – January.

We are going to be going to court for the 4th part of this trial 2 days after I filed for divorce 3 years ago!

3 years ago!!!!! Are you kidding me? 3 years of misery. This has been nuts. I just want it over. I am glad we are coming to an end. It has been a long 3 years.