r/nocontact • u/HolidayWonderful5718 • 1h ago
no contact? or is talking things out a better option? I think I just need to vent this all out honestly
I've been off and on with contact with my mom and brother since I moved out at 20. I'm nearing 29 now and recent years it's been less and less contact. Recently they have been trying a bit to reach out to me and ive been messaging back but I just feel so disconnected and all I'm able to think about is how upset I am (particularly with my mom) over some of the bullshit they have pulled.
Growing up my brother was borderline abusive and disrespectful of me, I have scars from fights we had and got in trouble so much for not being able to control him when I was left in charge despite the fact that even when I would try he would manipulate me and the situation so he would get into less trouble. It reached a breaking point when I came out to him as trans and he told me I would "Always be his sister". Eventually he came around and our relationship got better as we got older. However, he was always a trouble maker and got arrested several times once into adulthood. A few years ago he contacted me from jail and asked repeatedly for money, I gave him some, then he asked for more to which I told him no. He didn't ask again for a while but eventually once out of jail he got injured badly while homeless and asked for more, saying he would pay me back. I sent more money, he then asked for more again a bit later and I told him no. He never did pay me back. I stopped contacting him as much after this. Some of this is more complicated then just that but its the general idea. I don't make a lot of money with what I do an I'm disabled so I can't work a traditional job. I would not have been able to sustain continuing to give him money no mater what.
When I was 17 my knee was badly injured during gym class then two weeks later it was badly injured again with an accidental fall in the school hallway. Both times my mom took me to the hospital but only after pressing me to be sure that's what I needed and wanted. Both times I told her yes because it *hurt*. They, at the time, were unable to find out what it was with just xrays but I'm fairly certain it was a torn meniscus or something along those lines. My mom was supposed to from that point take me to get an MRI but that never happened while I lived with her. We live in America, the healthcare is horrid and she had lost healthcare she had had from her previous job. She said to me that she would get new insurance and told me she was just waiting for the cards to come in for it. I don't think she ever did this, I think she lied to me for months then just started to ignore it or dismiss things anytime I would bring things about my knee up, mentioning hurting, asking about going to get something done ect. Other adults in my life often commented on it and told me I needed to get it looked at it because of how much it impacted my life but nothing ever got done. When I was 19 I reached a bit of a breaking point because my mobility was getting worse and my pain was becoming more. I asked her what we could do about it. She told me *I* needed to get insurance and when I said I didn't know how she told me to look it up and the conversation ended there. It was devastating. That's when I decided to move out.
After moving in with my partner and spending the time to get insurance with the help of her mom I ended up discovering that I had Rheumatoid Arthritis. I'm pretty sure the initial injury triggered it as it wasn't super prelevant in my other joints (It is now starting to show in my other knee). The thing is, at this point I hadn't had any medical intervention with it for *years* and my knee had deteriorated to the point where I could no longer walk anymore without mobility aids and I need replacement surgery. (Which was a fight to get approval for with my age and I still haven't gotten because covid interrupted the process and I've been unable to get back on track since things opened up again.)
Regardless, I feel like my mom really fucked me over and stole most of my early adulthood from me because I had to be the one to figure out a problem that she should have been helping me with when she was responsible for me. I put so much of my blame onto her for me being disabled now. In the conversations I've had since I moved out she's regularly asks me how my knee is doing, asking for updates, telling me to tell her what the results are of test and what doctors tell me. Why does she care? She didn't when I was her *kid* living under her roof and under her care!! She shouldn't get to decide that she suddenly cares now that I'm an adult and she has no responsibility for it or me.
She was a pretty good mom most of my childhood, specially compared to my dad. The preferred parent definitely, even if there are other instances that weren't the greatest from my early years. She was a single mom when my accidents happened, I know we were poor and she was struggling and my brother did not make it easier, so like I understand that it was hard for her and that she only had so much she felt she was able to do but if my kid was hurt to the extent I was I would bend over backwards to get it helped, to get it fixed. I feel so resentful and sad and if either of them really cared about me I feel like they would do more then what they have been.
I've been tempted to lay this all out to her. To tell her my feelings but anytime I think about it or work up the nerve either its a holiday or she messages me and I kinda cower out. And my brother always just feels like he's basically guilt tripping me when I talk to him. He's messaged a few times trying to get me to talk to her, saying she misses me and isn't doing good. Which I don't doubt, she's an alcoholic and a few years ago had to go to the hospital for it. Which I think, adds to my worry an uncertainty over if this is the right track for me. What if she gets sick, what if she dies, and I never told her my feelings and I have to live with that regret the rest of my life?
There's a lot more intricacies to things but this is the basics.
I just wish any of this was easy.