Featured image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay

“To think, the first two times her husband ran for President I voted for him. Biggest mistake of my life” Melony said shaking her head.

I cocked an eyebrow at that comment.

“Oh, it was. Beyond a doubt voting for Syphilis Willie was the biggest mistake of my life. I was willing to overlook that whole rapist thing, but not anymore. I know what you were thinking. Getting knocked up in high school was my biggest mistake. To quote others, “it set me on the path of ruin”. I love all my children and I love being a mother. If I hadn’t had them early and gotten used to really nasty diapers, I probably couldn’t be a CNA. I may never own a McMansion or be able to send my kids to Harvard, but they truly are a blessing, even on the days I would like to ring their necks.”

I had to chuckle at the Syphilis Willie comment. She mistook the cause of my mirth. “It’s true” she said. “At some point every mother finally utters the phrase ‘I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it.’”

“No” I responded. “I was laughing at the Syphilis Willie remark.”

“That’s true too!” she exclaimed. “If he tried to run for president now during this whole #MeToo thing there is no way he would get elected. Odds are he would be imprisoned. He might still go there now even though his wife heads the organized crime family. For a lawyer she’s not very smart. Hell, she was the reason Ken Starr happened in the first place. What a fucking moron. Pardon my language, but there is no excuse for someone getting her kind of education being that stupid. The school must have been handing out degrees to parents who paid enough no matter what the kids got for grades.”

“While I enjoy listening to your politics bounce all over the map, I have to ask, did I miss the point or have we not arrived there yet?” I inquired, fully expecting another slap.

“We haven’t gotten there yet. A person and their situation in life is the sum of their experiences. While you wanted a simple answer to your question there is no simple answer to it. Not one which would convey the correct information” Melony answered.

“You don’t have to worry about hubby bouncing in here to kick your ass because he is dead. I told you he was older than me and we met when he visited his mother in the nursing home” she stated. I nodded.

“He joined the marines right out of high school” she continued. “Lots of guys from around here go straight into the military, even when the factory was booming. He did his twenty and got out. Stayed in the reserves and worked at the factory. When his mom got to the point of needing to go into the nursing home he put her in there and moved in with a buddy of his. He rented out her house to provide some income to help keep her there. Then he met me and moved in here. We got married. His mom was even able to attend. Not long after baby number three was on the way. It was shaping up to be your typical blue collar white picket fence existence.”

She looked me in the eye to see if I understood. Since I was getting tired of just nodding I said “continue.”

“The worthless snot nosed George deliberately committed fraud on a grand scale with his ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ campaign to get us into a pointless war without any merit or exit plan, just to prove he could win daddy’s war. Hubby went back overseas. He wasn’t in country two weeks when he got killed by an IED.”

“So now you are a war widow and should be getting benefits” I stated.

“While he was here we weren’t in any rush to fill out all of the paperwork. It wasn’t necessary. Besides, we were still jumping though all of the hoops of him adopting my other kids.”

“Quite a guy” I interrupted.

“He was a marine. Duty, Country, Family. In that order. He felt a duty to take care of his family. His whole family. Even if the kids weren’t his. He hadn’t finished filling out all of the dependents paperwork before he got killed. I mean, when he re-upped they slammed him straight into theater. He had twenty years, much of it actual combat, and he hadn’t been out that long. Some forms got lost, others weren’t filled out correctly. I’m still working with the VA to get the paperwork filled out correctly. At least we got everything filled out for Social Security as part of getting the marriage license and the child adoption process. At this point it is boiling down to getting the Social Security department to do battled with the DOD. It will eventually get straightened out.”

“I don’t know. Government agencies aren’t known for confronting each other” I said out loud without meaning to. She seemed to realize that and the fact it was true.

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