Month: March 2026

Today AJ told me that she is thinking about giving the wedding bands from her late husband to CL so he can use them to propose to the girl he is with. She asked me if I thought it was a good idea.

I told her that it was completely up to her and that I did not have an opinion on the matter. At least, not one that I was willing to share with her.

The truth is that I do have concerns about it. I do not have much confidence in CL’s decision making, and I worry that if he ever gets desperate for money he might end up pawning them. That is not something I can really say to AJ, though, so I kept that thought to myself.

I was in St. Louis this week for a work trip. Honestly, I have started to appreciate these trips more than I expected. I never thought I would enjoy being back on the road for work, but in some ways it has become a blessing in disguise.

Being away means I do not have to deal with AE as much during the week. The downside is coming home to the things that AJ allows him to get away with while I am gone.

While I was in St. Louis, she let AE sleep in the living room the entire time. I have been very clear that I do not like that. The living room is a shared space, not a bedroom. When I bring it up, she usually just laughs it off and says that when I am not home they do not have to follow the rules.

I did not push the issue this time, but the next time I travel, if I find out she is letting him sleep in the living room again, I am considering removing the restrictions on his Xbox and television and unblocking YouTube so she can deal with the consequences herself.

I am getting very tired of coming home and having to reset everything back to normal. Every time I return, I end up having to enforce the rules all over again because they were not followed while I was gone.

Situations like this are starting to create distance between AJ and me. It also creates friction between AE and me when I try to enforce the rules after being away.

Today we took AE to the gun range so he could shoot his .22 caliber rifle. He had been begging all weekend, and I finally gave in. Since he had been behaving well since we got back from our trip, I figured it would be a good reward for him.

While we were at the range, everything actually went smoothly. He followed instructions and did not cause any problems. We stayed for about an hour, and he did not even complain when it was time to leave.

As soon as we got home, though, things changed. It felt like once he had gotten what he wanted, he no longer felt the need to behave. He went right back to being disrespectful to everyone in the house and ignoring the rules we have set. He argued about nearly everything AJ or I asked him to do.

I am taking this as another lesson learned with him. I told him that since he cannot handle it, I will not be taking him to the gun range anymore. If AJ wants him to go, she can take him to the indoor range instead.