Jennifer

In March of 2004 I experienced a horrible miscarriage at 16 weeks gestation. Aside from the emotional aspect of it all, the physical pain was horrible. I lost a lot of blood, to the point where my doctor was having problems controlling it. Unfortunately the baby was not “passing” on its own, therefore I had to have an emergency D&C.

Vinnie was 3 and AJ was 10. I had no idea how I was going to recover while taking care of two boys. Thankfully, due to a friendship that began three years prior, I did not have to worry about that.

Enter Christin and Will. Christin & Will, lived in the next building over. Both worked at Wal-Mart at the time. Christin was the one who took me to the hospital when I started to bleed profusely in her living room. She was the one who called Joe, and she stayed by my side until Joe was able to make his way over to the doctor.

Once I was home, drugged up on god knows what, Christin called and offered to take AJ and Vinnie for a few days while I recovered. Now keep in mind, she had her own daughter at the time, and Will had his son from a previous relationship. They were getting ready to tackle on parenting four kids, and Joe and I could not have been more grateful.

Christin

It was the least I – we could do. She nearly bled to death in my livingroom. I drove as fast as I could to get her to the hospital, but it wasn’t fast enough. Jen and Joe had lost a baby, a baby they both dearly wanted. I had to do something to help my good friend.

Will and I quickly discussed having AJ and Vinnie stay with us for a while, just until they could recover, both physically and emotionally. Joe and Jen took us up on our offer, an offer that clearly, I did not think all the way through. Thankfully, Will is just a big kid at heart, he handled it like a pro.

“I’m going to take the kids outside” Will said. “You want to cook up some mac n cheese and hotdogs?”

“Sure.” I said, knowing the reason he said that because it was the only thing I could cook at the time.

I watched as he helped the younger kids get their shoes on and with AJ in toe, the 5 of the made their way outside to the playground. An hour later, they returned, muddy from head to toe.

“What happened?” I asked, grabbing towels from the closet.

“We went puddle jumping” he said, laughing.

One by one, each one of them, took a bath. I threw their clothes in the little stackable washer and dryer, while Will found some shirt for them to wear until their clothes were done. AJ and Vinnie ate their mac n cheese in shirts down to their toes, while Will put in a movie “Daddy Day Care”. How fitting. He was only 20 years old himself, yet knew how to entertain 1,2,3 and 10 year olds.

I watched as Will stretched out on the floor, with all the kids surrounding him as they watched Eddie Murphy succumb to the tortures of 8 five-year olds. We laid out sleeping bags for the boys while Kharizma and Taylor were tucked into their cribs. Will stayed out with the boys, just in case they woke up in the middle of the night. They fell asleep to the singing of Veggie Tales that night. The next few days flew by. 4 kids was a lot of work. I decided then and there, I didn’t want more kids.

I couldn’t have done it without Will. He was the true hero in all of this. Even though he and I didn’t always see eye to eye, he was always good with the kids. Not to mention, a great entertainer.

Jennifer

Once I recovered (3-4 days I believe) Christin and Will brought the boys back. Christin was now contemplating getting her tubes tied, because, four kids, that’s a lot of work!

Time went on, and pay attention because everything from this point happens pretty fast.

Christin and Will broke up. Boo!
Christin and Will found out they were pregnant. Yay!
Christin and Will went through a “rough patch.”
A pregnant Christin moves about four hours away to Moses Lake.
Her doctor’s appointment were still here in Federal Way.
I was at the hospital when her son was born.
I was also very pregnant with Gracie.
(Many years have now passed)
Christin and Will “put up with each other” for the sake of their son.
Christin is now pissed at Will.
Will is now pissed at Christin.
Christin and Will are now able to have friendly communication!
Will still lives in the same town as I do.
Christin lives across the water.

I have to say, and Christin has no idea that I am writing this – even though we discuss our blogs, even the ones we write together. I am so proud of these two. Both of them have their strength and weakness. They will be the first to tell you they work better as friends, as co-parents to their son. And they are doing it. No, it’s not perfect, it’s a work in progress. At their core though, they both care about each other a lot, (they will not admit to this.)

Christin

I would like to tell you that Will and I have a perfect co-parenting relationship, however we don’t. He’s made mistakes and so have I. We were young back then but I think we’ve done the best we could considering the circumstances.

Our son is good kid, however I must admit, he’s got his dad’s warped sense of humor. God help me. At the end of the day, if I needed Will, I know without a doubt, he would be there. He’s been there when I needed to vent. I’ve been on the other end of the phone when he needed a listening ear. We get each other, more than either of us would ever admit.

Jen would tell you that Will and I are more alike than different. She played the middle man for our short-lived relationship. Will would go to her apartment and complain that I didn’t clean out the cat litter box that day. I would go complain that Will didn’t clean anything. She was our underpaid therapist but never judged us once. We’ve come along way since then, but still she has good, sound (most of the time), advice.

Jennifer

All of us, Christin, Will me and Joe…well not Joe he has always had his shit together, but the three of us have come such a long way from the days of Wal-Mart. From the days when Christin and Will had my two boys, living it up watching “Daddy Daycare” in their messy, toy infested, Cheetos smashed into the carpet living room.

We all have come so far.

AJ, who will be 24 this year, is heading out on the same path we were all on back in 2004. Through an unusual turn of events, AJ will now be working for Will. I have no words to express how happy this makes me, because aside from Joe, AJ could not have a better person watching after him, teaching him, and rooting for him all along the way.

And I know that Christin will be on top of Will making sure everything runs smoothly.

We may not have taken the traditional route, but this little dysfunctional family of friendship, well, it makes me happy.