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With my previous post, you can see my dilemma. I literally have not talked to my mother since the middle of November. 1st time in my life I haven’t spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with her. The last time I saw her she was so rude and condescending. She’s furious I am not at her beck and call anymore. Driving an hour every week to spend a few days with her has completely stopped. I feel such a sense of relief. No more guilt trips. This is so weird. I felt I was at a point that I could not live without her. I would cry myself to sleep thinking about her dying. I’m relieved she betrayed me because I believe it will make it easier for me when that day comes.
Will I ever want to see her again? Wth is going on with me?

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Nothing wrong with you, you are spreading your wings. I haven't spoken to my mother in 13 years, the happiest 13 years of my life.

It was her or me, I chose me. I couldn't take the abuse one day longer.

You are going to be just fine. Nothing to feel guilty about!

Wishing you the very best!
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A weight has been lifted. Doesn’t mean you should feel guilty . Don’t waste it. Be good to yourself .

If you want to see Mom at some point , keep boundaries . And remember , her problems are not your fault. You did not make her old and you can not fix old.
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No judgement from me. Do whatever you need to do to feel peace in your life.

If there is healing later on, great. If not, I am sorry but it is better to be separated from your mom than to live in misery.
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Everyone here knows exactly how you feel and you're not alone. I think people convince themselves they must be devastated when a family member dies. That if they're not jumping on the coffin when it's being lowered down there surely must be something wrong with them.

There isn't.

When my father died my feelings were more along the lines of what you'd have if your neighbor's parent died. My siblings had the same reaction. None of us were happy about it, but he lived his life for himself and paid very little attention to his children.

My mother has always been verbally, mentally, and emotionally abusive. The scapegoating, gaslighting, and guilt-tripping started when I was a little kid. She still treats me badly. I try to help her how I can and on my terms of course, but if she starts up I walk away and have zero communication with her. She'll try to get my attention and I ignore her.

I once didn't speak to her for six years and didn't even have her at my wedding when I married my second husband. She ruined the first one and was left out of it. I caught some slack from other guilt-trippers about it and I did not let it bother me.

We have a generation of seniors who expect their children to become slaves that cater to them and are at their beck and call 24/7. They also expect that we will keep smiling or bow our heads in silence while they berate, belittle, bully and verbally abuse us. Then we'll keep coming back for more.

You don't have one reason to feel guilty for not visiting or calling your mother. You really don't. Think of it like this. If you had a spouse or a partner or a friend who behaved towards you like your mother does and expects what she does, would you keep that person in your life? My guess is no you wouldn't I wouldn't either.

If you choose to have a relationship with her you can, but it has to be on your terms and not hers. Set some boundaries. If she refuses to live within them to have a relationship with you, then that's on her. You're not doing anything wrong.
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Twinkletoes5981 Jan 29, 2024
When my dad died 3 years ago from Covid it hit me hard! I wasn’t even close to him. This happened at the beginning of Covid. Nobody could visit him. The poor man was in the hospital all by himself for 2 weeks. It was awful. Most of my grieving was for that reason, I suppose. There were so many things I wanted to tell him. My mother vilified him. He wasn’t perfect, but he was a good man. Hardworking and faithful. After he passed, she became a grieving widow. I would listen to her responses when people would ask about him. It was a big eye roll for me. I would think you couldn’t stand him, but yet now he was the love of your life?
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I can tell you that my husband and I were not treated well by his father after my mother in law died.

Yeah, it hurts at first. I can’t say that time heals all wounds. We are left with scars. I can say that as time goes by, the pain lessens and it doesn’t sting as much. We find out that we can flourish and live an independent life, in spite of being scared.

After a certain period of time, we hardly notice the scars anymore. Once in a while there are a few things that will remind us of things that should have never happened.

We can take time to reflect for a moment but it’s important not to become stuck in the past.

You’re going through these conflicting emotions right now because it is fresh in your mind. In time, you will see that you made the only choice you could have, in order to remove yourself from the line of fire.

My husband cut ties with his dad. He moved on. His dad called shortly before dying from his assisted living facility asking for my husband to go see him. I asked him if he wanted to go and told him that I would support whatever he wanted to do.

Covid hit and my husband wasn’t able to visit. I asked him if he was sorry that he didn’t get to see his father. He said that he wasn’t sorry. He didn’t want to rehash all of the pain from the past.

My husband no longer saw his father as a dad because he had been out of my husband’s life for so long. Sadly, they weren’t especially close when he was a child.

Wishing you peace and hope for better days ahead.
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waytomisery Jan 16, 2024
True. The scars are there. But it gets easier with time, so long as you don’t wallow in guilt or anger . Can be easier said than done .
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15 Yrs ago my mom, pretty much disowned me , for leaving my mental abusive husband. I kept in touch, now and then. Then my father passed , 4 yrs ago and I am her main caregiver, still dealing with her guilt trips, doing everything I can.

About 20 percent of me feels like I did the right thing, 80 percent feels like I should of ran when I had the chance.

There is no easy good answer for this. The guilt of not helping at all would of killed me. I will say 4 yrs ago I should of kept things alot more distance.

Looking back I think I started doing it because I wanted my mothers love and approval, now I realize that will never happen.

Just do it for the right reasons
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Twinkle, saying "I told you so" rarely is the right thing to do

Your son is an adult and hopefully he knows how to say "no" when he can't do something.
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Religion or not , I think the serenity prayer says it all. Please look it up. Helps me find peace of mind when I really need it.

Also Melody Beaties, books on codependency are amazingly helpful.

Sence I have been regressing back to my old ways. I'm dusting of my old books. That helped many yrs ago.

But absolutely the serenity prayer!!!

I hope things get better for you, my thoughts are with you.
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There is nothing wrong with not feeling guilty for not talking to her.

Quite frankly, I don't see the dilemma.
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You woke up! Good for you!

Of course you will see her again....when you WANT to.
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