Isolde
Posts: 213
Joined: 4/18/2005 From: Hamilton, Ontario Status: offline
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When I was almost 22, I had to move in with my parents again after leaving my then-husband. He left me with a massive amount of debt, a number of mental and emotional scars, and crippled self-confidence. He broke into my email account pretty much every day of our last six months together, convinced I was having an affair because he was having one. After I moved in with my folks, I started working two jobs but could barely keep my head above the debt I'd been left with. I relied on my parents for the basics...food, shelter, water, phone access, etc. 6 months after I turned 22, my father grounded me from using the phone to speak with my then-boyfriend-now-husband. Now, I'd been paying for my phone time. I forked over the cash for our long-distance calls and tried to limit them as much as possible because there was only one line and I didn't want to block anyone else's calls. But that didn't matter to my dad. He yanked my phone time. He also went a little crazy and did things like accuse me of selling a 20lb sack of dog food for drug money (I've never bought drugs) and giving my little sister (on purpose) a block of cheese he'd been saving for making a dinner with. I know...wierd, huh? I had very little privacy, very few luxuries, no free time and a lot of stress. He called me irresponsible, childish, overemotional. All of this while I was trying to get back on my own two feet again and doing a damned fine job of it, when I wasn't having a nervous breakdown. :) Because I was under his roof and needed him, I tolerated it. Yes it was frustrating, even maddening at times. Yes I called him names under my breath in the privacy of my own room. Yes I got out of there as soon as possible and yes our relationship was strained before that and for awhile after that. But while I wouldn't call him my best friend today, we are closer than we were. Old wounds have healed over into scars. The marks are there but the hurt isn't, not anymore. We both moved on and grew up and found more important things to be upset about. No one begrudges you the need to vent, Ginger. But what you need to focus on are the choices you have in front of you, not the anger you're feeling. Feeding on that anger, stirring it around, picking at the scabs... that's just a distraction and not one that's doing you any good. After the initial rant, I think people expected to see you pull yourself together and set your shoulder to deciding what needed to be done about your situation. From the descriptions I've read here of you, you're a capable young woman with a lot of intelligence on your side. Right now is the time to focus that and to leave the teeth-gnashing on the side, or even behind you. If you can't stand your home situation, find a way out of it. Several ways have been suggested here. If you are going to stay, find a way to make it work. It sounds as if you'll have to be the adult here and that means you need to be calm, patient and rational in your choices. Expecting anything from your mother when she's in the state she sounds to be in is unrealistic. Your situation is, unfortunately, the way life twists sometimes. You should be listening, not lashing out. This thread has been filled with sound, realistic advice. Go back and reread with a calmer eye, and realize that some of the people who've been accused of being unsympathetic have been that and more.
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