Listen, honey, let me tell you a story about my family.  First of all, my mom and dad are the kindest, most generous, best people I have ever had the privilege to know, and I am grateful every day for their presence in my life.  

That being said.

My Yaya, my mom’s mom, used to leave bruises on me and convince me that I was insane, and that’s nothing compared to what she did to my mother.  She has caused directly four (five?) nervous breakdowns in my cousins, and drove one to the point where he called his sister to come keep an eye on him in case he tried to kill himself.  My Nana, my dad’s mom, is a decent person, or could be if she didn’t stand idly by while her husband turns violent and aggressive.  He’s a bitter, cruel, misogynist old man, and the shit they are literally right now putting my father through makes me see red.  I could gladly punch any of them in the face.  My response to hearing that Yaya has kicked the bucket will be literal tears of relief, followed by copious amounts of alcohol.  The best I can hope for is to be ignored, and I have resigned myself to that, but my god am I ready to be done with their shit.

So here’s the point to this unnecessarily personal rant: you’re doing right by yourself, and that’s what matters.  You looked at your situation and chose life over limb, and I’m really, really proud of you for it.  That is a brave thing to do and the only people who understand that are the people who are in the same situation.  

Family isn’t supposed to hurt like this.  You are doing the right thing.