bluebell
Well-Known Member
Ok, I know my difficult child is 17.5 and still in the home but you all have been down the road I am going and wondered if you encountered this situation/emotion. We have framed pictures all over the house of difficult child and easy child - shrines if you will. They are now causing me great distress. Tears will just stream down my face when I look at them (hard to explain, I'm not really crying, just tears). I want to take them all down. husband does not, says it gives him hope and keeps him from 'killing' him. (this is tongue-in-cheek, husband would never hurt our son - and believe me he has been tested). Even the ones with easy child in them, DD14 - depress me - because she is changing so much and been hurt so much by difficult child's destructive habits.
I guess I've romanticized these years with my family - but we took trips, we had birthday parties, we were a family. Now we can do none of those things, it's almost as if difficult child has died or is suffering from an incapacitating - and sometimes I feel terminal - illness. My husband said we do not have a dysfunctional family, we have a dysfunctional child. But I still can't stand to look at these pictures.
Did anyone else struggle with this (admittedly trivial) aspect of your home and what did you do?
I guess I've romanticized these years with my family - but we took trips, we had birthday parties, we were a family. Now we can do none of those things, it's almost as if difficult child has died or is suffering from an incapacitating - and sometimes I feel terminal - illness. My husband said we do not have a dysfunctional family, we have a dysfunctional child. But I still can't stand to look at these pictures.
Did anyone else struggle with this (admittedly trivial) aspect of your home and what did you do?