two or three years ago my(f25) dad suddenly divorced my mom under the guise of filing for bankruptcy and not wanting to lose everything (which he did proceed with) only to marry his mistress of 10+ years.
me and my sibling were not invited to the wedding as we didnt even know.
i know it sounds almost cruel, but my mom has always been pessimistic, narcissistic, manipulative, selfish, and sometimes just flat out mean on top of being VERY dependent despite being able bodied and with no type of cognitive disability.
shes not this terribly awful person, because she does have good qualities and i do love her, but living with her is extremely stressful and exhausting most of the time.
i have always felt picked apart by her and have just recently reclaimed myself as my own from her control.
shes always been embarrassed of me when it comes to our extended family.
fast forward to meeting my dads new wife, and despite how hard i tried to reserve myself from her (because we all knew about the affair) i couldn’t.
she is the opposite of my mom, she praises me so much and has always been beyond thrilled to introduce me as her daughter, she encourages me to do the things i want and always rationalizes with my dad when hes being accidentally critical of me rather than egging it on like my mom did in the past.
Shes willing to do things i want to do and not just what she wants, and she has always made me feel like my voice matters.
a lot of times i feel extremely guilty, especially because my mom doesnt even know theyre married, but my inner child is absolutely thrilled to have a maternal figure like the mom i dreamed of and longed for my whole life.
i cant help but love her like and consider her my third parent, and as bad as i feel i am extremely thankful for her.