I told him I wanted to learn more about you and your situation. He pointed me toward publicly available details of the case I had ruefully never known of, which made me begin to feel the evidence strongly supported your story. That you have been telling the truth all along..

My question is: What can you recommend for staying strong in parenting for the good of the child not our own egos or insecurities? I may lose some peaceful good times with my son because I need to say no or have boundaries for him that he kicks against. I want to stay strong and do what is right. I don’t want to give in just so he won go with his dad to simply get what he wants.

Fair enough. But I forgot to mention that picking your route ahead of your trip really helps avoid encounters like these. I try to stick to dedicated bike lanes and side streets as much as I can. Remember, you have been artificially flooding your brain with dopamine for 14 years. Your brain is used to having an unnaturally high level of the chemicals that make you feel good, and it is trying to adjust to now having far lower level of those chemicals. All the feelings you have right now are natural, and you will continue to experience them for some time period..