Thank you. A lot of people here are making light of this type of situation; but, I will tell you that you do NOT know what is going on in a house, unless you are living there.
I became estranged from my family some years ago. It was a situation that had been brewing since my early childhood; but, neither of my parents would act to stop the emotional, and sometimes physical, abuse that I had to endure at the hands of one of my brothers. When I would bring it up, my mother would make excuses for him; and, my father (whom I loved dearly) would tell me that the problem was that I was too sensitive.
Now, I was a sensitive child and still am as an adult. It is who I am; but, when I was a child, I was also very, very shy. Anyway, to be feeling hurt by the downright cruel verbal abuse from one (and sometimes two) brothers; and, to be told it is my own fault for letting it bother me, just made me feel that there was no one who was going to help me.
The dam didn't really break with me until I was married with children and living about as far away from my family as I could. It was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary and myself and my brothers were chipping in to pay for the party. All except this one brother, he would not chip in. So, it ended up being a bigger bill for the three of us; and, then he gave my parents a wad of cash for their anniversary. My mother tried to give it to my one other brother to pay for the jerk's portion of the party; that brother refused to take it. Some months later, my parents were visiting and my mother was defending this particular brother about something or other. I blew up, and that was it with our relationship.
When my husband drove my parents to the airport for them to return home, my parents were mystified by why I was so angry.
Anyway, this was only the flash point; but, the problem had been there for decades and my parents just ignored it. My parents are both deceased at this time, and I have no contact with my remaining siblings. It was not easy to pull away, people do not understand something like that; and, I was criticized for doing so without anyone asking why this had happened. Because I had walked away, it was all my fault. However, after I walked away, I found my life became a lot more peaceful.
So, don't be so quick to judge someone for walking away. Sometimes you have to for your own emotional and mental health.
That’s a tragic story, I’m sorry it had to be that way, it could not have been easy....
I have nothing similar to relate to, my mother’s younger sister and her 3 daughters were estranged from everyone in the family....I’m not sure exactly why....I don’t know where they live or even if they are still alive, it’s like we don’t exist in each other’s life.....