her, expolde

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  • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
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    822 days ago

    meow-hug when I look at my own father, i feel like he didnt have a chance, and I try to see in his actions not his heart, which i know wishes for everyone to be happy, but rather his conditions growing up and the traumas hes unintentionally perpetuating. Maybe its pure cope, but its what I do to still be able to love him, because ultimately i do want to love him.

    cw domestic violence, ableism

    He grew up getting the shit beat out of him by his father (not just a paddling but like, the metal end of the belt, etc.) and being tortured by his siblings. He didnt have any support for his mental health, and likely had to mask incredibly heavily to avoid the corrective punishments meted out by 1950s steeltown society. Add on the religious trauma of a polish catholic upbringing, and its a wonder he made it as far as he has today. I think a lot of his BS is him immitating and performing things, those same performances kept him safe growing up, but today alienate him from his family and perpetuate the harm that he grew up with.

    • magi [null/void]
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      22 days ago
      cw abuse, ableism, other stuff I'll probably mention
      bad shit

      I grew up with a lot of abuse, I got hit with canes, belts (including with the buckle) I got hit with whatever was at hand, partly for what I learned later for autistic traits, or made an example in front of strangers when out when I didn’t want to eat or something like that. I got years of this growing up and also because I’d want to not be put in the boy box, not allowed to play with anything but what I was given, i couldn’t play with makeup or play with a fucking rabbit toy my sister had or a post office, because they were hers… I’d get verbal and mental/physical abuse, I have scars from it.

      When I transitioned and told my mother she’d try to gaslight me they had no idea I was trans or anything of the sort, but before this I’d just have random shitty comments dropped from her or her husband “oh there was this t-slur at the market this week” then go into all detail about their thoughts on this person, that’s just some of the weird random shit I’d have to put up with. I was alienated from them since my teens, they couldn’t tell you anything I was into, they couldn’t tell you anything about me as a person, they never had any interest in me.

      I got more shit when I came out to them, and eventually I finally cut contact.

      I think there’s some disconnect that can happen with estranged parents. Where they don’t try to understand their child, or get to know them as they grow either. So part of it could be that disconnect where they don’t really understand their child as an adult and how different they are as a person. So you get slips or head empty comments here or there.

      Also sorry for my trauma dump :

      • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
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        722 days ago
        spoiler

        meow-hug im so sorry you were subjected to that.

        gaslighting + shitty comments

        That fucking sucks. That weird style of manipulation and judgement. My father wouldnt do stuff like that specifically in public, but when alone he would share all the weird bullshit (i remember when my stepbrother came out as a lesbian my dad was very normal about it and didnt have anything homophobic to stay at all, no sir-y bob monke-rage he absolutely did and even at age 8 i could tell it was fucked up)

        Also sorry for my trauma dump

        meow-knife-trans no sorry! Only emotional support for my trans comrades! cat-trans

        disconnect

        Yeah, the saving grace of the relationship is that, while he doesnt understand me and doesnt seem to try to understand me, he doesnt try to box me in, or constrain me. So theres this middle ground where I can try to show up with him. But i also just dont cause most of the time it just hurts emilie-shrug i talk to him over email only at this point and we exchange an email every month or two.

        • magi [null/void]
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          722 days ago
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          Mhm stuff I try not to dump too often it’s bad shit recounting it, especially when a memory comes out to greet you… thankfully I don’t feel much about it now.

          he doesnt try to box me in, or constrain me. So there’s this middle ground where I can try to show up with him

          At least that’s something, if only they understood the pain they can cause.

          My parents not understanding me would hurt me when I was younger but then I was afraid of them wanting to know me… more things to use against me or hurt me like they had already. I always wanted something more than what I got from them, I put up with too much for too long.

          • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
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            622 days ago
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            thankfully I don’t feel much about it now.

            Im glad it has less of an impact on you now, and is less painful.

            My parents not understanding me would hurt me when I was younger but then I was afraid of them wanting to know me… more things to use against me or hurt me like they had already.

            denji-just-like-me

            • magi [null/void]
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              622 days ago
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              I’m pretty chill as a person and don’t really get upset much (ash will confirm) it’s more like the hurt is filed into it’s own little box along with the anger and everything else surrounding it, it’s part of me but so deep to not ever see the light of day again.

    • ashinadash [she/her]
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      822 days ago

      Oh fuck, I don’t have anything like this I guess. My dad got kicked out young and his dad kind of hated him on and off, so there’s that I guess…

      Given what your father has gone through… damn. I think I remember saying I hated your dad at some point, but it is a wonder he’s still going.

      • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
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        822 days ago

        yea he does the best with what he can. To his credit, kinda shit father but he never once hit me, like, he broke a many generations long cycle of physical abuse, and for that i am so fucking proud of him.

        Yeah, you did say that, and like, youre not wrong. I fucking hate his guts. But i also love him. Its weird and complicated vivian-shrug

        • ashinadash [she/her]
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          922 days ago

          Right I recall this, knowing all that shit he does at least deserve credit, even if he is the worst fucker in so many other ways. Progress in small steps…

          Wow that does sound kinda complicated niko-happy I usually cut family members off with all the hesitation of cutting low branches on a forest path, respect tho.

          • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
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            822 days ago

            Eh, he is full of love, ive seen it and felt it, he just cannot express it very well, and its accompanied by so much other BS. I guess part of it also is that i just want my daddy back, cause he was an amazing father until i was like four or five or six and started to differentiate myself from him and not be his clone, and i really miss that niko-tear-wipe