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AlohaDreaming

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This is one of those posts that I need to make, but I don't know where to start.

The last time my middle sister reached out to me, it was after our brother OD'ed. He was a life longer dug addict. He died two weeks after reaching out to our mother for photographs of himself and the family as a child. She yelled at him our sister had them and hung up.

This was her way.

He OD'ed alone in his apartment. My Father was destroyed, and my Sisters were indifferent. I forgave him for all the things that he did. I forgave him, because when someone dies, you let it go. You accept you'll never get to say what you wanted, but I was never angry.

When I moved East to get away from the family because they were so toxic. They always acted as if I was someone so horrible, and pushed me out. My last Christmas at home they forgot me till 2pm and then came to get me, like I was a distant relative. I had had a suicide scare a few days earlier, so the sting was worse to feel they'd treated me like a stranger.

The following year, I left the state and have only been back once in nearly twenty years.

Today I get a facebook message from a friend of my middle sister saying she needs to speak to me. It has been since my Brother OD'ed that she's spoken to me. That was 2009. Today she needed to talk to me, and instantly the panic set in.

She messages me that back in May my Mom had a heart attack, and has been suffering from Alzheimer's. That her condition is worsening and they've put her into a home. She doesn't remember people from day to do, but she remembers the past. She wanted me to know, and she loved me. Not a real dialogue, like she'd written me an email.

She and I never got along. She made my life a living hell growing up. We argued and never liked one another.

So, my Mother is dying, and it took her seven months to contact me. I'm hurt. I go from being numb to sobbing.

There are some days I realize what I did all those years ago, by leaving, it saved me. It doesn't make this any less painful.
 
@NineFiftyFour Death isn't easy, and everyone grieves differently. My mother passed away 20 yrs ago this month, and I've yet to grieve for her. All I can really say is be kind to yourself.
 
@NineFiftyFour Death isn't easy, and everyone grieves differently. My mother passed...

Thank you. It's one of those moments where I am holding my breathe, because I'm not sure how harmful or helpful this would be. From the reaction I had waiting to hear the news, harmful is where I am. Part of me doesn't want to let her pass without seeing her, but the wound she left is so deep. Then part of me says 'How will you feel if you don't?'

I've been an energetic healer for 20 years, and there's a time when we really let something go and there's a hollow inside of us. It almost feels like when you lance a physical boil. You release it, and your body just relaxes and you sob. I've been sobbing those deep, releasing sobs for two days. The body shutters and shakes, and you know you're letting go of something that is going to make you better.

She hasn't been my Mother in almost 20 years. The birthday cards stopped in 2012. She always hung up on me when I called. People can say her disease cased this type of disconnection, and I'm sure it did, but it wasn't any less painful to endure. This was my worst fear for years, I'd get a phone call telling me she died, and now that I'm looking at it, I sobbed. I mourned, I grieved, because of her and because of me.

Hearing the news was almost like letting go of a breath I've held for years. I exhaled after twenty years. I know how sad that sounds, but after all the things that happened between us, all the petty things, all the things that just made us part, I still love her. For all her faults, and all her blame, I still love my Mother. I just don't know if I can risk me, because I've been doing that for 30+ years, because of her. Sometimes we have to be selfish, we have to say 'No, I can't do this anymore, my life has to be about me now.'

Death isn't forever. It's just a transition. I know that through the work I've done for years. I've lost a lot of people in my life, but with her disease, I think I lost her a long time ago.

Thank you for letting me let it out. I don't talk candidly about my family because I feel like I'm whining. They always acted like I was a drama queen and I whined. I didn't whine, I was just more in touch with who I am, than they are. It makes a difference when you don't hide.

-Nine
 
@NineFiftyFour When my mother was diagnosed n the hospital before she died, I went to see her. She was one of my abusers also. I told her that I could forgive her, if she could forgive me. She didn't want to talk about it, and basically dismissed me and my visit. I left crying, but later felt that I did the right thing for myself.

I hope that you can figure out what will be the best thing for you and never have to wonder later, if you did the right thing or not. If that means going to see her, or if it means saying goodbye without going or talking to her. Whatever you choose, I hope it's healing for you also.....
 
@NineFiftyFour When my mother was diagnosed n the hospital before she died, I went t...

I think after the past few days, I think that its time to know because of her condition that I have forgiven her and let go. There comes a time when you have to accept what has been done, and move forward. I am at that place. I'm going to talk to my Therapist on Tuesday about things, and get her opinion. I feel like I'm in a good place with this, and that traveling home 2000 miles isn't the best choice for me, not alone at least, and I'd have to go alone. I think that would create more trauma.
 
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