There Are No Words

Exercise: 45 minutes total  snow shoveling this week over 2 days.

I found out last night that someone I know has a relative being sexually molested by their stepfather. It's not my little or any of her siblings or any of my blood/marriage related family. A friend's 15 year old female relative. Someone I know, but haven't mentioned in this blog.

BEFORE ANYONE FREAKS OUT THE POLICE HAVE BEEN CALLED.

It's not sexual intercourse; not yet. It's not oral sex; not yet. But it's innapropriate touching, and innapropriate speech/attitude. The stepfather admitted to touching her, removing her bra and fondling her breasts. His fifteen year old step-daughter. And he has several daughters of his own almost her age.

A huge family meeting last night with their pastor resulted in the following:

1) The 15 year old was lectured on chastity and flirtatiousness (WTF?)
2) The step-father is accusing her of "tempting" him. (yada yada yada)
2) The 15 year old was supposedly called a "skinny minnie temptress" by her own mother (WTF?)
3) The mother supposedly stated (in an oh-woe-is-me way) that she can't compete with her daughter for her husband's affections (WTF?)
4) The 15 year old girl wasn't allowed to leave the house to go back to the relatives' she's been staying with the last few days (where she finally told what was going on).
5) The counseling session scheduled for the 15 year old has been cancelled (natch - all that mandatory reporting, don't you know!)

He has admitted it. Yet she keeps him in the house. Absolves him of the guilt and responsibility. Why the hell would anyone do that? This is an educated, employed woman. She can take care of her kids on her own. She's only been with this SOB four years or so. And he has admitted it. Does anyone else out there believe he'll stop? That it won't progress? He's basically been given the green light.

Supposedly the mother is going to quit her job (she's on night shift) so the girls won't be left alone with him at night. Yes, that's plural. There's another (younger) step-daughter in the house. And he has primary custody of his daughters. Like her being home is going to remove any chance of anything happening. For Pete's Sake.

My friend is very upset. Furious at how the girl is being treated. And terrified of what will happen next. To the girl, to the family, to his daughters (he has primary custody, fighting for sole - his ex is a drug addicted looney). She's also terrified of what will happen to her. Because the mother of this girl is her own sister. She's terrified her sister won't ever speak to her again. I told her I'd report it. Not a problem. And if they blamed her, I'd fess up and tell them I reported it. I don't care. They can't hurt me.

Well, she called me just a little while ago to let me know that she called the police. God. What a messed up situation. Something is very, very wrong in that house.

Why do I watch this?

I must admit that I have some strange TV viewing habits. As a friend of mine would say, TV viewing at all is a strange habit. It drives her crazy when sometimes I'll go "Hey, I'll call you back in an hour, I want to watch this show..." And I sheepishly admit, I've become very good at having conversations on the phone with a show on mute, closed-captioning enabled, of course. ;) It's pretty easy when it's a repeat 've already seen a dozen times.

So, my lineup of shows that I watch regularly are:

The Waltons (bit embarrassed to admit this)
Law & Order (the original & SVU)
Medium
Heroes (thanks Sis, like I needed another addiction. LOL.)
HGTV (too many to list!)
History Channel (especially religious documentaries, histories)
Forensic Files
Cold Case Files
A Haunting (when I remember it's on, and am not feeling too spooked. Usually it's on mute w/CC. Or I freak out.)

Early Saturday and Sunday mornings usually find me half-awake on the sofa watching "Curb Appeal", "Clean Sweep" and the like.

But perhaps my most interesting show fascinations (to me at least, because they're very out of character) are these:

Wife Swap
Biggest Loser
Jon & Kate plus 8
Little People, Big World

Not sure what the deal is on these. Especially Jon & Kate plus 8. I mean, I like kids, but am so not into the whole parent thing. Maybe it's because while watching it I can't help but think "OMG, if that was me it'd be a train wreck!" Maybe it's some kind of strange lifestyle validation. [g]

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, it's about a young couple that couldn't have kids, went the medical treatment route, had twin girls, decided to have another child, and ended up with SEXTUPLETS. Miraculously, all with no major health issues. But now, as they said on the show, they have "Two six year olds and six two year olds." Train wreck, right?

Not so much. I cannot believe how organized this woman is. Her house is cleaner than mine, (Mom, you did not just read that) ,and it's just me and the dog. And she and her husband are hilarious, I think.

And that's not the only show on TLC on families with multiple kids. There are actually several with a dozen or more kids...one even has sixteen! So for months I've been watching these shows...It must have been percolating in my brain, because one day last week, my determinedly-childless self was standing in the kitchen making something (can't remember what) and thought about what would happen to those kids if the parents died.

In typical geek fashion, I thought "Who'd be the backup?" I mean, being backup to one or two kids is one thing. But back-up to eight????? Thank God, the Goddess, whoever, whatever is in charge, that between them my brother and sister only have 4. And that's when my brain went "OMG Nat, YOU'RE the backup."

LOL. I'd never thought of myself that way. :) Don't get me wrong, I love all my nieces and nephew and would take any and all of them in if necessary (God forbid, knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, add any other rite/ritual to protect, I hope it's NEVER necessary)Anyway. It was just a weird moment.

*Ok, on second thought I'm editing this post to include the following, for my own safety. ;) I fully realize that I am not the only backup, and that there are grandparents and additional siblings serving as backup. Nor does this post express the wishes of either set of parents of these children! ;) *

All from my eclectic TV viewing habits. Maybe I should turn that thing off.