Not Having a Family is Lonely All Year Long Not Only During the Holidays
Cutting toxic family members out of your life is never easy.
I grew up with a mother who could only be defined as toxic, and that is putting it nicely. When I was growing up, to the outside world, she seemed like a great mother. She would brag on all of her children, quoting their achievements to anyone that would listen.
Our mother seemed doting and caring towards her children. She attended every concert, softball game, parent teacher conference and play. Our house was always clean, we were always fed and well taken care of, but if you looked deeper, you would see a very different picture. Like most families with dark secrets, nobody knew what was going on in our home, except for the people who lived there.
The first time I remember my mother hurting me, I was eight.
At first, it was just her grabbing my arm and digging her nails into my skin so hard it left little half mood shaped red marks that bled. She would bend down so that her face was close to mine, and tell me to knock it off. The expression on her face was twisted into an expression of anger. Her tone of voice scared me into behaving, as did the pain from the cuts she left in my arm.
