My mom has been gone for 13 years. She’s not dead. I broke up with her.
Parent estrangement is a complex and individual experience. You see, I’ve carried my mother’s burdens throughout my childhood and into my adulthood but fight like hell not to carry it into my motherhood. These years are mine. These years are my children’s. They get their own childhood and I get to embrace my newfound empowerment. My family gets to create new holiday traditions beyond my past. More festive and free from the toxicity that I endured. The toxic cycles, my parent’s past and my own, stops with me. Read full article
