Look for the Discrepancies
An open letter to my grown children
Before you open the enclosed letter, please note that it describes something called alienation. This is a common abuse tactic, often employed by disgruntled parents, one against the other. Here’s a good article about it.
But in my case, my mother used it as well — joining forces with Ex Number One to pit my own children against me. And the results have been devastating — for me, my children, the basic structure of my family.
I haven’t said any of this before, to anybody. Not even to my therapist. But the muse just won’t shut up, so I guess it needs to be said. This letter contains information that has been begging to see the light of day for a long time — my side of the story. I hope my children run across it someday.
Dear Children,
To begin this letter, let me tell you that I know you must have heard some pretty wild stories about me, your mother. And you’ve heard them, very likely from your father and grandmother, from the time you were infants. Since early grade school, you have all avoided me like the spotted purple plague, and we were never allowed to form anything approaching a normal mother/child relationship. The few times I dared try, somebody got hurt. So now, except for the inconvenient fact that I gave birth to you, nursed…
