Hi

[ryeish]

Ryeish here, hello all.

About myself. Raised in the NE US in a fairly mixed up family. Mom's side is a huge Italian family, very very close. Dad's side wasn't. Gpa was fairly quiet and withdrawn, gma is bitter and not too fun to be around. She's Quebecois, really hates my mom still after 50+ years of marriage. We moved out of the NE to the mid Atlantic area when I was 10, supposedly for 2 years. Well, it's been 40 years and they're still there. I moved out of the area 21 years ago last week. Me, near 50, married with a wife and a kid. I love them both.

The folks have always been hard to deal with. Mom has a tendency to fly off the handle at anything. She was prone to hitting us if something happened regardless of who's fault it was. Once I was riding my bike home from a friend's house and a truck passed me that kicked up a rock. I got hit in the eye with it and had to go to the doc. She beat me for it. Not on the butt with a belt but was slapping me. I think she's bitter that their 2 year move was permanent. I'd be upset too but hitting the kids isn't a great way of dealing with it. Dad has some huge issues with his mom. She never liked my mom and it more or less showed. Dad has a lot of baggage from her, she talks down to him, favors his sister and her kids, etc. Some of it I can understand, like she had a college fund for us and when we moved she took it away and gave it to my cousins. I never saw the money so I really wasn't mad but dad held onto that and still is upset about it. Everything is about the principal of the action. I've not seen my gmother in 20 years, no letters or cards despite sending her some. It used to bother me but it doesn't, she's 1000 miles away and out of sight is out of mind. Dad is a bit of a narcissist. It's pretty unhealthy. I limit my contact with them as I can't deal with it. I do keep in contact because they're my folks but for the most part I screen calls. It works for me.

I have a couple of brothers, one I'm close to and the other I'm not. The one I'm not close to lives in Northern Cali, the one i'm not close to lives near my folks. He's a lot like them, has the same attitude.

[manuel_moe_g]

Hello ryeish, welcome to the forum!

Great to see you are already diving in and contributing to the threads!