Anonymous asked: I am really glad about your tags on that mom post you did. Everyone is always ragging on me because I do t talk to my mother, but they don't understand how shitty she is. And things like you said just help me not feel super shitty as well. Thank you.

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.

Some things must be broken  others must crack but I will always have your back.

im-lost-but-not-gone:

So my blood kin family is messed up. In a way, I’ve often wondered “if only my family were addicted to something, I could blame the substance for the way they treat the people they’re related to, but no, this is just how they act. All the time. To people they’ve allegedly pledged affection and allegience to.”  So, fucked up family, but I have learned over the years that there are lots of us who come from fucked up families, like we have jackets and could actually form our own country of survivors of fucked up families.  Anyway, the way my blood kin deals with family members who buck the system is they metaphorically set them on fire and toss them overboard into the icy cold wilderness to let them sort themselves out alone.  I was the first that said “fuck this” and flip over their own board game of “just how much can I make you twitch.”  Yeah, I spent many years with the smell of my charred life lingering in my nostrils and making my eyes itch. But then, over the following years, there were other members of the family who were similarly burned and, because I would not go quietly into that dark smoky night, I became known as the “Burn Ward.”  I’m proud of that. One of my beloved members of our Burn Ward was charred crisp, fiercely, and nearly gave up any reason to live when they came out. I love them and feel so fiercely proud of them and the one sibling - their parent - who stood by them and held them close, even when the flames consumed them both.  Four years later, they both live their lives, speak honest words, and can share in love that they had been too broken to express.  I am so proud of them.  So fucking proud of them. And I want to shout into the darkness “You shall not overcome us!”

THIS IS MY MOM GUYS.

SHE’S THE BEST GUYS.

LOVE HER.

ALSO SHE GIVES GREAT ADVICE FOR DEALING WITH TERRIBLE PEOPLE.  SO HIT HER UP.

tanaebrianab:

People with good parents get so offended when abused children speak negatively of their parents. Like…REALLY offended lol.

They say things like “Your mom would do anything for you” and “Your parents sacrificed a lot for you!” and “I don’t respect anyone who talks down on their parents.”

But just because YOUR parents would do anything for you and sacrificed a lot for you doesn’t mean it applies to all parents. We don’t have the same experience boo. You can’t tell me shit about what my mama would do for me. All moms and dads are not created equal.

REALLY THIS.  And I’ve discovered that…like, it extends past parents.  Like, don’t get me wrong, my parents are absolutely as good as it gets, they’re great people and they would support me if I said I wanted to make seashell necklaces for the rest of my life (actually no, I’ve always been ridiculously Type A so they would take me to a hospital if I said that, but the point stands).  My extended family?  Genuine, bona-fide, abusive train wreck.  They spectacularly fucked up my parents, who I can never thank enough for the trouble they’ve taken to protect me as best they can.  It’s just…a fact of life in my experience that my grandparents treat me like I’m either worthless because I’m terrible at everything or worthless because I’m a girl.  My aunts and uncles and cousins (with VERY few exceptions) have taken the party line my entire life.  And that’s behavior that I generally consider benign from them.  I get panic attacks when they contact me, and the few people who really push the point about “Oh, but they’re your family, you must love them!” and “But they’re your family, of course they love you” piss me the fuck off.  Because it doesn’t always work like that.  Sometimes something breaks along the line.

I don’t usually say this, but: you don’t know my life.  Similarly, I don’t know yours.  You tell me you have issues with your parents?  Shit, you tell me that you’re waiting on someone to die so that you can get the fuck out?  Cool, bro.  I’m still here for you, whatever you need.  Treat me well and I’ll back you in anything, because fuck, you know what?  I’m waiting on my grandmother to die so that I don’t have to fucking watch my mother worry anymore.  I’m waiting on her to die so that I can cry and scream for the kid I should have been.  I’m waiting for her to die so that I can go to a funeral in a red dress she would have hated, over combat boots that would have made her furious, wearing red lipstick that would have made me call her a whore.  Yeah.  Sometimes family is shitty.  It doesn’t always pan out nicely and you never get to tell someone what they’re allowed to feel about it.

(Source: tanae-briana, via bonehandledknife)