My attorney requested a formal custody review.<\/p>\n
Sarah arrived with my ex-husband looking confident.<\/p>\n
She smiled at me across the conference table.<\/p>\n
My ex looked annoyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is ridiculous. Sarah loves Emma.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope she does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then my attorney placed the printed messages on the table.<\/p>\n
Sarah stopped smiling.<\/p>\n
My ex picked them up.<\/p>\n
He read the first page.<\/p>\n
Then the second.<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSarah… what is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
She immediately tried to explain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was only thinking about what was best for Emma.\u201d<\/p>\n
My attorney pointed to one message.<\/p>\n
The more she prefers me, the less she will fight leaving Jennifer.<\/p>\n
The room became silent.<\/p>\n
My ex stared at Sarah.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were planning this?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah started crying.<\/p>\n
She insisted she had never meant to hurt anyone.<\/p>\n
That she loved Emma.<\/p>\n
That she believed our house had too many rules.<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cLoving my daughter was never the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeaching her that loving you required replacing me was.\u201d<\/p>\n
She had no answer.<\/p>\n
The custody agreement was not suddenly rewritten that day.<\/p>\n
But new boundaries were established immediately.<\/p>\n
Sarah could not discuss custody with Emma.<\/p>\n
She could not encourage comparisons between homes.<\/p>\n
And all major parenting decisions had to remain between Emma\u2019s father and me.<\/p>\n
For the first time, someone had put limits around Sarah\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My attorney requested a formal custody review. Sarah arrived with my ex-husband looking confident. She smiled at me across the conference table. My ex looked annoyed. \u201cThis is ridiculous. Sarah loves Emma.\u201d I nodded. \u201cI hope she does.\u201d Then my attorney placed the printed messages on the table. Sarah stopped smiling. My ex picked them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-580","sr_chapter","type-sr_chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/sr_chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/580\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}