before my mom died, my dad was cheating on her. she found out and wanted to be separated, but before they could she got sick. I didn’t know at first but on the day after my mom passed, my dad’s mistress called him asking where to meet. Then 1 week after her funeral, my dad started bringing her over. Then after 2 months he finally said she was his girlfriend. Now she’s my stepmom. My stepsister keeps saying, “well my dad doesn’t love me so it’s worse than losing a parent.” I have so much anger towards her bc how can you compare that? I want to yell at my dad and ask him why he thinks he can just get away with it, but after losing my mom, I had to step up for my siblings. Make them happy. So i guess I’ll say it here.

when i was younger (like 7-12) my dad used to hit my sisters and my mom divorced him. he rarely did it to me but he would emotionally abuse me a lot. like being manipulative and narcissistic. i’ve been to a therapist ordered by the court about it but no one ever takes me seriously because “he never really hit me” it still impacts me a lot and i try not to think about it but when i do it really messes me up. recently my moms boyfriend had asked us to move in with him and my mom said yes. my dad used to move around a lot and so the town that we’re moving to he has lived in. it’s giving me severe ptsd and anxiety and i can’t control it but my mom is telling me to get over it because hes different. well she’s had boyfriends before and they weren’t different. i can’t help feeling guilty like i’m stopping them from being happy but i’m very unsure about it. her boyfriend hasn’t given me a reason to doubt him and he’s really good to me and my younger siblings but i still worth it won’t work out.

• August 4, 2023