Can anyone guess next year's theme?

I got an e-mail from Nemo today. This is his usual mode for contacting me to ask to see Lucian. Per the court order, he has to give me twenty-four notice when he wants to take advantage of his parenting time. I hate having more contact with him than is necessary, but it's better than last summer where I was waiting and waiting for him to show up all the time, and over half the time, he didn't. He's been more consistent lately.

Anyway, his e-mail also asked if we could work out an arrangement so that Lucian could go to a family party of his. His aunt and uncle throw a big family reunion type party every summer. In years past, I've had to drag Nemo with me, as he never wanted to go. Suddenly, he not only wants to go, but wants to bring Lucian with him.

I've had a sick feeling in my stomach all day about this. I can't even explain why. It would really only be for a few hours, and there would be lots of people there so I know that Lucian would be watched carefully. His aunt and uncle live quite a good distance from my house so it's not like it's convenient for me to get to, but that's not the part that bothers me the most. It's because I know that he just wants to play father-of-the-year for a couple of hours.

He's able to step right in and play the part when it suits him, but when Lucian and I have really needed him to be a parent, he's out of the picture. Nemo's slogan should be - I'm not a father, but I play one on tv.

So even though it tore me apart, I e-mailed him back and said that I could probably work it out. I'm going to do it. But I don't like it.

One of my objections is about party is the theme. Usually the theme has been something bland, like - everyone wear the color red, or stripes, or a Hawaiian theme. Last year, right after everyone found out that my marriage ended because my husband left me for a str*ipper, they chose the theme of Ho*oters. I thought it was terribly offensive. Even though I was invited, I decided not to go. This year, their theme is beads. We all know what that means. Luckily, Lucian doesn't.

Ugh. It's all so dreadful. For so many reasons.