You know what I realized today?  It’s an anniversary of sorts.  Actually, the anniversary was back on Friday.  Because Nov. 3, 2005 was the last time I had to sit across a conference table from the Fuctard and pretend like the whole mediation process was going somewhere. 

Not that I’ve not had dealings with the Fuctard in the intervening months; I’ve kicked his ass soundly a couple of times.  But it’s been a year since any face to face pretense that his demands would be met without a lengthy and bloody court battle.   It’s been a nice break.  Made all the more relaxing by the fact that we are technically still in mediation, which means that the papers we signed agreeing to forgo taking legal action against each other are still in force.  So, I get to hold firm on “No.  I do not believe that visitation is in Diva Girl’s best interests right now.” and he can’t do anything about it.

This situation is made even more delicious by the fact that I did finally get my child support increase in September.  After the province of Ontario threatened to take him to court for it.  Suddenly there wasn’t any more “well, my lawyer says that even though my taxes say I made this much, really I should only pay this much because…..”  Suddenly X=Y was infintely reasonable, provided that I make a statement that he was not in fact in violation of the agreement and did not owe any arrears. 

I didn’t like it, but I signed the declaration.  I could’ve fought and gotten support back dated to May, but I’d have had to do it on my own, losing that lovely shield of plausible deniability.  Besides, about the time this all went down, the Canadian Supreme Court made a radical change to the child support laws:  It is now the payor’s responsibility to make sure that the appropriate amount of support is paid.  And if the payor fails to do so, he will be held liable for all money owed.  I’m really looking forward to next tax season.

It’s not over yet though.  See, that cheque reached diabetic coma levels of sweetness in that it was the first time that the Fuctard was required to pay full support for both of his children.  So, he now pays out roughly my entire monthly income, just in child support. 

Yeah, the Fuctard had a pretty rough summer.  And this?  Not even the worst of it.  Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about his day in court.