Thank you RE. It would be miraculous if this tragedy united YS, DS and their parents. Unfortunately their family system is so badly broken that realistically, though I pray I am wrong, I don't think it's a likely outcome.
There's much I don't share here. Suffice it to say that as far as families go, there is dysfunctional, then there is Dysfunctional then there is DYSFUNCTIONAL!!!!!
The family I married into is in a class all its own beyond all of these. I think even with this awful event, the denial, the mental illness in multiple family members, and the blaming and the anger runs too deep and over too many years for even this near-completed suicide to make much difference.
For one thing, I seem to be the only person in the family who can clearly see that DS and YS need to be separated. Both my wife and her ex have always been in denial about the depth of DS' pathology. I think they would protect DS, even now, above YS' needs.
YS asked me once to run away with him and raise him myself. At this point, I may actually consider it!
