I'm recovering from last week's trauma. Believe it or not, my husband and I have still been feeling the stress after witnessing my siblings' vicious verbal assault on my mother. Ted and I are both distracted during our daily activities. We are forgetting things. Time and again, he mentions something about that harangue. Our bodies are reacting to the stress as well. I've had frequent bouts of tachycardia (a rapid heart beat) and mild chest pain. I do have a mild heart condition, so I'm taking it easy.
As we heal from the physical effects of this event, Ted and I have a running conversation about it. We agree that, at this point, we will avoid contact with my brother and sister while we assess our respective relationships with them. More than the peace was shattered that day. Our entire perspectives on who they were exploded with their tempers. We never thought them the kind of people to abuse an elderly person--let alone their own mother.
How can we respect them? How can we trust our own perceptions of people? How do we repair the family relationship? Can it be repaired? How can we learn to trust them? A gulf filled with these questions and more lays between us and them. Building a bridge must be a mutual decision and I am not ready to begin, not sure I want to build it at all.
All I can do is pray for the family and be supportive of Mom.
Gayl
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