Snow!!

We will most likely be saying goodbye to Micheal in a month. He is unwilling and/or unable to put forth the effort to participate in our family. He would rather be homeless than put someone other than himself first. To say this is an enormous surprise and disappointment to Jamie and myself is an understatement. Jamie has not been able to sleep or eat for weeks; the situation with Michael has been eating away at him. Today we told him that we would be unable to wait a full month of him proving himself; in his own words he says he will “try”, “doesn’t want to”, “can’t do that”, “doesn’t like that”, “doesn’t think he can”. We are hoping that if our expectations are zero, it will be much less frustrating when he decides not to help out. It is a terribly sad situation; that someone would prefer homelessness to making an effort and deciding to put the needs of others ahead of their own. It is incomprehensible to Jamie and myself that someone would not be chomping at the bit to help “pay” back (not monetarily) the effort we have made to bring him back from the brink of homelessness. We would both be working our asses off to work off our “debt” (emotional and, quite frankly, financial; we have to keep saying “no” to stuff the kids want to do because we spent around $6000 on Michael alone) and can’t imagine the concept of just saying, “no; I’d rather YOU do the work; I deserve a break”. We have never seen this attitude in him in all the years we’ve known him, but he has always been a very solitary animal and perhaps this was what was hidden. We now can imagine why none of his friends in Tahoe would help him.

Today we headed up to our old stomping grounds from last year; the top of the Cumbres Pass to see our old spot. We then headed down to Elk Creek Campground where we spent Labor Day last year and the kids played in the stream until the remnants of Hurricane Lane rolled in. By the time we got to the top of La Manga Pass it was almost impossible to see, snow was accumulating on the sides of the road and piling up on the windshield of the car. At first we were incredibly excited until the realization dawned that should the snowfall increase, we’d have a hard time getting over the second pass, Cumbres. Luckilly, it is slightly shorter than La Manga Pass and we had no trouble. It is raining here in the campground and I’m glad we have hookups and are not boondocking with a defective generator at the top of Cumbres Pass, snow in the making for tonight. We will probably stay here another night and then head to Colorado Springs, where we hope to get the generator fixed and Jamie to get some most excellent (sans snow) riding in.