Chapter 114 America’s Most Wanted

Monday, February 10, 2003

Laila’s ears were hurting, and she couldn’t hear. Throughout her life, she has had 6 sets of tubes put in to help her ears drain.

This time, when I took her to the ear specialist, he said both of her ear canals were draining the wrong way. He had hoped that as she grew, it would correct itself.

Since it never did, he’s going to put in yet another set of tubes and also operate on the ear canal so her ears drain the way they should. He is also going to operate on her nose and throat. Then it should fix the problem once and for all. Poor Laila, she has already gone through so much!

Wednesday, Friday, 12, 2003

Laila’s operation went well. Laila can hear again. Hopefully, that will be the last time she has to deal with earaches.

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Mom called to tell me that Sander is out of prison. He has to take Domestic Violence Classes. I doubt it will help any. Sander is living in his car outside Mom’s house. Mom said she allows him to take showers and use the bathroom, but other than that, she won’t let him in the house because he has gotten violent towards her. Mom seems to think the classes are going well.

Monday, March 24, 2003

Brutis is getting big and chews up everything! He also bites. Johny, the daycare kids, and I are scared of him. Jared assures me it’s because he is a puppy, and once he gets older, he will stop biting.

Thursday, April 3, 2003

Richard has found another job. It doesn’t pay as much as his old one did. But at least he is working again.

Friday, April 4, 2003

I got a phone call from Sarah’s school to let me know that Sarah was not in class. I went over to the school to see if any of her friends knew where she was.

When I found her, I asked her why she was not at school. She told me it was because the boys in her class were calling her names. I asked her if she had talked to the teacher about it. Sarah said that the teacher heard it and told them to stop, but they kept harassing her.

I let her know that I would get her transferred out of that class first thing Monday morning.

Saturday, April 5, 2003

Richard never lets me drive his truck. He said it’s because I will damage it. Today, he let Jared take it. I thought you didn’t trust me, but you let your teenage son drive it? I was hurt but didn’t say anything.

When Jared and his friends were driving, they saw a large puddle of water. They thought it would be fun to drive through it. Jared told his friends that he didn’t think it was a good idea because of the amount of water there was. His friends all assured him it would be fine, and if anything were to happen, then they would all help pay for the damages.

As they drove through the puddle, water started pouring into the truck. Then it came to a complete stop, and all the lights in the truck turned off. The truck was dead. Richard got the truck towed back to our house.

Even though the truck is destroyed, we still have to make monthly payments on it.

Then there is that other car Richard bought for $800. He tried to replace the battery. He installed it incorrectly, destroying the motor. Now we have two dead vehicles sitting in the driveway.

Thursday, May 15, 2003

Richard didn’t go to work on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. I asked him why. He said it was because he was sick. I told him he seemed fine and that he needed to go to work. He said he was depressed because both vehicles were dead. I told him he needed to pull it together and go, or else he would lose his job. But it didn’t help any.

Jared asked me why his dad had stayed in bed these past 3 days. I told him why. Jared went into the bedroom and talked to him. I didn’t think it would do any good, but then he took a shower, got dressed, and went to work.

When Richard got home from work, he told me that he had made an appointment with his doctor to see if he could get on a different medication since the one he is currently on is not working.

Saturday, May 31, 2003

The Kidney Foundation came and picked up the two broken vehicles. I guess I should be grateful that they didn’t charge us to haul them away.

Monday, June 9, 2003

Jared has graduated from high school. Sarah is not doing well in school, so I have to drive her to and from summer school. Hopefully, she will be all caught up by the time school starts again.

Friday, June 20, 2003

Mom called to tell me that she won’t allow Sander in the house anymore since he is so violent towards her. Mom said she saw him at the post office. He didn’t see her, so she hurried out of there. It’s sad to think that it’s her son. I have been worried that he will show up at my place. He doesn’t have money for gas. Hopefully, that will keep him away!

Sarah is not allowed to have friends over when we are not home. Sarah was home alone this evening and had invited 4 boys over to hang out with her.

When we got home, the boys were gone. The boys had brought fireworks and thought it would be fun to set them off in our microwave and in the guest toilet. They had blown apart the microwave and made a hole in the toilet. They didn’t know how to turn off the water, so the water was still running.

Richard hurried and turned the water off. Now we have a broken microwave, a broken toilet, and a flood in the basement. Richard called the police because he wanted the boys to pay for the damage. Sarah got upset that her dad filed a police report and said the boys had planned to pay for the damages. I highly doubt that!

When it is time to go to sleep, I am always the last one to go to bed. I don’t want to disturb Richard, so I usually use the guest bathroom. I had forgotten that the bottom of the toilet had been blown out. Here I was, sitting on the toilet, upset about the damage done to the house. All of a sudden, I felt pee on my feet. I was already mad. Now I was also mad at myself for forgetting there was a hole in the toilet.

Sarah has always been so sweet and easygoing! She thinks the damages are no big deal. Looks like the brain fairy has arrived. I sure hope her brain gets returned soon!

Sunday, June 29, 2003

In 1996, my cousin Colleen’s husband died. After he had passed away, Colleen got involved with Sander. I tried to warn her about him. Mom had told her that Beth and I were just paranoid and that Sander was harmless. Sander then moved in with Colleen and her girls.

The episode was about a trucker who had been seen leaving a bathroom at a gas station. Shortly after, they discovered a girl in the bathroom who had been beaten to death. The truck had come from Canada. They showed the route he would have taken. Then they showed a sketch of the trucker who had come out of the bathroom. The drawing looked like Sander. Colleen’s girls wanted their mom to call the number that came across the screen because they were sure it was him. Colleen told her girls it was nonsense!

When Sander got home, Colleen asked him about his time as a trucker and his routes. The time period and the route he took matched what they had said on the program. Colleen thought even though everything matched up, there was no way that he could do such a thing, so she didn’t call it in.

Months later, Colleen ended up kicking Sander out because he got violent towards her and her girls. When Colleen told him it was over, he threatened her. He said, “You don’t know what I am capable of, do you?! When he had said that, Colleen wondered if the sketch was of him after all.

When Sander had moved out, she called the show. She was told she should have called in after the episode had aired. Since so much time had gone by, it was too late for them to do anything about it.

Colleen called to tell me everything that had happened, and that Sander was stalking her. He keeps calling her and has been following her and her girls in his car. When she least expects it, she looks in her rear-view mirror and sees him following them.

Colleen has gotten a restraining order against him, but it doesn’t seem to be deterring him from harassing her or her girls. Since he is in the States illegally, she wants to see if she can get him kicked out of the country.

When she went to talk to a police officer, she was told that ever since the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11, they have been doing what they can to get terrorists kicked out of the country. A white guy who was stalking his Ex-girlfriend was the least of their problems right now, and therefore, they couldn’t help her.

I feel bad for Colleen. She and her girls are terrified of him. She can’t believe mom told her that he’s harmless. She wished she had believed me when I tried to warn her about him.

I called America’s Most Wanted to see if there wasn’t a way I could find out if it had been my brother who they had shown a sketch of on their program. I was told the same thing as my cousin.