I wanna give the author a hug. I feel as if I am reading my story. My dad isn’t as bad as this person’s dad, but my mom is. I haven’t spoken to her in 6 months, and finally cut her off completely after one last attempt to have her take accountability. She doesn’t accept my child’s gender or name change (they are 13yo and non-binary) and ever since they came out my mom has been awful to everyone in my family. The clincher was when she called my kid “it”. She refused to apologize, but expected me to apologize numerous times for calling her a homophobic c**t after she said what she said. Then, she told my grandma, and now she won’t talk to me. So her actions have affected so many relationships in my family. And like the author, my uncle (her brother) and aunt are the only ones who see her for who she truly is: a narcissistic, manipulative, horrible person who cares for no one but herself, and is only out to make herself look good. My dad is caught in the middle and is her flying monkey, but his side of the family is more sympathetic to me as she’s manipulated relationships with them too. Reading this is very validating, but it’s still hard because I’m grieving.