...Your mom left your dad and your whole family was broken up. Your childhood home was sold and you had to split your holidays between the two. You and your siblings are all out of the house as young adults tackling the real life. The way you see it, is that your mom was selfish to do such a thing to the family. And, your dad is still upset about it all, even if he might have found someone else...
You feel that whatever your mom tells you about the situation on why she left are lame and still very selfish and you have stopped to even listen. In fact you rather not talk to her at all unless it is via texts every now and then. Seeing her is almost too painful. Seeing her happy and moving on with her life is like a slap in the face for what you had to go through with them getting a divorce.
You feel that your dad needs your support still since he is taking this whole thing so hard. He is telling you how much your mom hurt him by leaving and that he never deserved this. You believe him. You believe him because you too got hurt by her leaving. His truth becomes your truth. Your dad starts to feed you things that you didn't know about your mother growing up. He shares secrets that your mom has always been selfish, that she never really cared, and that she always seemed to be out to hurt him by lies, all with associated stories to back up his points... It all kind of lines up with what you are feeling about the whole thing.. You believe everything he is saying, how could you not - they guy is almost crying when he is telling you this.
Your distant to your mother grows and you feel it in yourself that you could never really see or understand why she did what she did. And in fact you don't care besides for that she hurt you all so deeply. Your trust and maybe even love for her seems to drift further and further away. And the resentment you feel grows bigger.
...Then, one day, maybe it is years later... something happens. Maybe it is a thought, an event, a story... It is something that triggers something that has been deeply buried. You start to realize little by little that the nonsense your mom was telling you on why she left becomes a little bit more understandable, a little bit more true. You start to realized that maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe she was put in a situation where she had no choice, that if she would have stayed she would have diminished as a person. You start to remember the controlling things your father used to do to her and that she never really seemed to have any life outside of the home. You wonder if she was even allowed now when you think about it. Did she even have hobbies? He was controlling her? "My own father I have been protecting was being mentally abusive to my own mother? And I took his side??" you ask yourself.
Wow! what an emotional roller coaster filled with guilt. What the heck do you do now? If it is not too late... (and I mean that if she is dead) reach out to her. She is waiting... She will forever be waiting for her child to come back... She will never punish you for what happened - remember she was not the one that was controlling and abusive. She will forgive you and she will embrace you. Because she really knows no other way - that is why she stayed with your father for as long as she did in the first place...
This post is dedicated to those women who has been abused by their husbands, gotten safely away from the situation and now have their children turned against them, siding with the abuser...
