Stimulus Checks???

Everyone is excited about the check coming from the government...the ones that are supposed to stimulate the economy and make things 'okey dokey'. Well, I'm a little perturbed and here's why:

Years ago, my son had a romantic encounter with a girl he'd previously broken up with, yet she continued to show up at all hours of the night to offer up her wares. What seventeen-year-old male can say no? Despite my warning that she might be trying to trap him, he evidently considered himself exempt... at least until she and her mother appeared on our doorstep announcing impending motherhood.

To make a long painful story short, he became a father because she told him he was, and put his name on the birth certificate. We didn't have money for an attorney at the time so we didn't challenge her claim, in fact welcomed the baby into our family and tried to place nice. My son had turned eighteen when the baby was born, and recently out of high school, couldn't support himself, let alone another person. I stepped in and did my best, even when her own parents insisted she move out, live in government subsidized housing and collect food stamps. I spent countless dollars on food, clothing and diapers, but it was never appreciated. I felt welcome as a grandparent only at Christmas and birthdays, and then, not really.

Everything she collected went on my son's tab, and despite paying a small sum monthly, he soon owed in the thousands--eighteen to be exact. His present wife accepted him with excess baggage and tried to welcome the daughter into her home, but ex-girlfriend, bitter and jealous, refused to let my son play a part in the child's But, every income tax time, despite paying monthly support for a daughter he doesn't even know, he gets no return from the government as the State of California claims it all.

He and his wife just received their stimulus check. Guess what? I guess the State of California needed to stimulate their own economy, because they took over half of it. How is that helping a hard-working parent to recover in these stressful times? I'm all for people taking responsibility and I feel my son has done more than his share for a child that he'll never be allowed to know or see. Or sure, you can get fight for your rights, but that takes an attorney and lots of money. We couldn't afford one then and we can't now. He'll never be out of debt unless he takes out a personal loan and pays the state because the interest accumulates faster than he can pay it.

I'm like a mother bear when you mess with one of my cubs. I think the reason this whole thing pisses me off is that there are deadbeat dads out there who don't pay a cent and get off easy. I wish things had turned out different, but it's hard to be a grandmother when the child doesn't even acknowledge my son as her father. I gave up when I was invited to her birthday party and he was purposely left out. It saddens me to think that my blood may well run through the veins of a little girl that I really wanted to cherish. I can't believe she's already fourteen.