It often seems like parents tend to the Troubled Child and the other kid(s) get the shaft.

My BFF and I have been known to commiserate over being The Good One(TM).

If it makes you feel any better, Epic, I'm an only kid who got the shaft! :)

I sometimes feel that my role in life is to be dusted and taken off the shelf once in a while to show off, while my older brother, even now facing possible jail time once again, mum finds anecdotes to relate about him with pride about him cooking dinner or helping out around the house.

He's only there because his life is over!

Did I mention that they're going to throw a grand larceny charge at him? Again.

And, yeah, getting the shaft. Sometimes I feel bad about that when I'm dealing with my special needs volunteers. Those who do the job without further prompting or correcting I tend to ignore because I'm constantly on top of the ones with attitudes and difficulties. And they need that attention (the extra troubled ones), but I feel like I'm also neglecting the ones who are doing things right. I make sure to thank them specifically for a job well done, and I'm grateful for them, but I also wish I had the freedom to work alongside them and engage in conversation, because I know they are capable of continuing to work diligently doing so.

Or it's like when I was in the army, and learned quickly that doing your job efficiently and ahead of time meant that you were rewarded, not with a chance to eat your breakfast, but with picking up the slack of everyone else.

Now I'm wondering if it's legal to ship underaged kids off to bootcamp. You have to be over 18 to sign up without your parents permission, surely under 18 they can be signed up with their parents permission and without the childs...

I'm so sorry for the frustrating and difficult situation, Zen.

I always feel like I get approving looks for picking up poops.

People have explicitly thanked me when they see me picking up after Walter. OTOH, I have gotten dirty looks from people (people who did not live in my neighborhood, btw, because people who lived near me saw me picking up!) while walking him. The mileage, it is not consistent.

Go Team Flossing!

sj! I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!

Timelies all!

Congrats, sj!

Julie, is this money your grandmother left to you or is it money your father inherited that he's apportioned a part for you? Because if it's the former, it's time to talk to the probate court or at least threaten to.

Zen, good luck to your friend. I hope her daughter comes around. I'm sorry it's so frustrating for you.

Julie, wishing you luck with your family stuff as well. I don't know if talking it out with your family will help or not, but getting the shaft for being the good one does suck mightily.

Ginger, the latter, and even if it were the former, I'd never go to court. I can't even bring myself to speak up for all the other things I feel I've been cheated on, because 1) I don't do confrontations, and 2) I know how my dad thinks, and what he thinks he is owed, and 3) I'm getting the Grams money, just no other financial assistance beyond that. And 4) I'd rather lose money than family, even if I have simmering deep-seated issues. My dad has had enough of that bullshit from his brother and niece.

I get how he thinks. I don't like it, I disagree with it, but I get it.

I still find it amazing how much I love my dad and how much anger and resentment I have for him at the same time (beyond money BS, he's an incredibly absent father, and he does everything he can to be that way, and meanwhile everyone else who knows him loves him. Randomly, it's also why I HATE Big Fish).

I will never be able to understand all the precious, astonishing people I know here, how lucky I am to know you and how totally incomprehensible it is that your families of birth don't know right to their bones how lucky they are to have you in their blood. I'll never understand it.

sj, I'm crying with happiness for you. Endless (but gentle, careful!) hugs to you and TCG and your tiny cup of wonder.