A Taste of "If Only"

My daughter and her ex showed up at my door on Friday.  They are hanging out together a lot.  This is not good.  He's an abusive alcoholic and she's bipolar so they fuel each other into horrible fights.  But she's 23 and he's 27, right now they're both unemployed and living off other people.  (He is staying with his older sister who really doesn't want him there and she moves every few weeks from place to place through Craig's List ads or with friends). My daughter told me that they wanted to take Isa to the beach.  I hesitated but then she clarified the request by adding, "with you too, mom."  So the four of us piled into the car on an impulse and headed to the beach (1 hour away).  Isa had an absolute blast.  She built sand castles with mommy and daddy, watched her daddy fish, threw bait out for the birds to snag, watched in awe as her daddy tunnelled into the sand and grabbed a sand crab.  It pinched his hand but he dealt with the pain for a full minute so Isa could really get a good look at it. Afterwards, we went out to dinner and headed back to the house.  Both parents gave Isa lots of love and attention, then kissed her good-bye.  She was so happy.  Even though she knows mommy and daddy don't live with her, just seeing them elates her.  This is the bittersweet part of allowing Isa to bond with her bioparents.  Catastrophe is almost guaranteed for one if not both parents because they haven't worked out their emotional issues.  But even if they can only offer Isa crumbs of love and attention, I think she should take what she can get.