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I guess I am just a non forgiving person

WithThisRing Posted:

I guess I am just a non forgiving person

my mom and her brother Michael have not spoken in over a year. A little backgroud: the house my mother lived in her entire house he threw her out. The house was my great grandmothers, she left it to my grandmother (my mom's mom) and because she couldnt handle all the paperwork she made my uncle power of attorney. My grandmother lost her husband and the house she lived in she was thrown out of because that house was in her husbands family for years and when the found out how much it was worth they threw her out and not giving her a dime so my grandmother moved into the house my great grandmother left her. So we had my grandmother on the first floor, my parents and I on the second floor and my uncle in the basement. One big happy family.

Well Sh!t hit the fan and my mother and uncle had a huge argument, so his worst he could do he did, he evicted her. My grandmother did nothing. She didnt get involved. She just kept her mouth shut. my mom countered and took him to court. My parents did move and I moved in with Brian. I told my grandmother when it was my parents last day in the house that the next time I see her is when the mortician is closing the casket and as God is my witness I will be popping a bottle of crystal and doing the irish jig on her grave. I also told her to get a good look at me now because she will never see me again and when I get married its her loss that she wont be at my wedding not mine.

So time marches on. My cousin (this uncles daughter) gets engaged and does NOT invite my parents and I to her e-party. She invted the entire family but us. So I consider her and that family dead to me.

Time proceeds to march on. My dad lost his mother at the beginning of the year and my grandmother felt aweful and called my mother. She even sent a sympathy card.

Today, my mother and father were driving home from shopping and they took the back streets for some reason. Streets probably no one knows exist. On these streets they see a man and his car that is broke down. My dad pulls over to help this person. He and this person work on the car for an hour and it eventually starts up. This man, my uncle. When the car started he gave my mom a huge hug and started crying of how sorry he is and that he loves her and not a day goes by that he doesnt think about her. He told her how is such a jerk and that she is family and he let his need for greed get in between what they have. My uncle is the biggest con man in the world and my mom said this was truely genuine. This was truely from the heart.

She told me how she forgives him and that I shouldnt be so negative towards him.

I told her I am sorry there is nothing in the world that will change my feelings towards him and my grandmother. I wish them both to rot in hell. I told her this man will be around forever because heaven definatly doesnt want him and satans afraid he'll take over. (Kidding me this is the type of man that will sell your soul to satan)

So my mom and I had a little argument that I need to be forgiving and if she can forgive him I should too.

I guess I just cant look pass of what he did to my parents and I can never forgive my grandmother for just sitting there and allowing him to treat my parents with such disrespect.

what do you ladies think....sorry so long...
desyre Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

With family there is always a time that you should forgive and forget. You don't have to immediately invite them to your wedding but give them a call and then move forward from there. I am going through the same thing with my grandmother and after 10 years, I called her in January. Even though she rushed me off the phone as if she did want anything to do with me, I felt better that I had at least called.

*Forgiveness is the economy of the heart . . . Forgiveness saves expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.*
- Hannah More

WithThisRing Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

Thanks. I am glad I am not the only one. Eventually I am sure I'll tie up those ends.

swags1016 Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

Maybe I shouldn't say anything because it is still raw for me, but you touched me.

As you might have seen on the board I lost my grandmother last Thursday. In July I saw her for the first time in 6 years not because i was mad, just could not afford the trip to florida at peak time and didn't want to look at her wasting away in the bed.

Well, my mother and her only brother had a fight as a result of my grandmother 5 years ago. My grandmother told her really horrible things as she has done my mother's whole life. My grandmother even told her not to come to florida when she died! These comments resulted in my mom and uncle fighting and not speaking since!


Thursday came and we got the message. I was thinking that I would be flying to FL by myself, but my mother went. She said it was for me. I broke my heart more to watch my mother and her only brother, her only immediate family left not speak, they never even made eye contact. Everyone went to my uncle's house for shiva and I had to choose between my whole family and my mother.

I am not saying that you should forget what your uncle did. I thought it was horrible. I would never forget it! But I am saying that maybe make peace with it so the family does not have to divide. I don't like my uncle for what he did, but I can do what it is right for the rest of the family.
WithThisRing Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

wow. Thanks for sharing that with me. I am sorry for the loss of your grandmother. I lost my grandmother (my dad's mom) in January and I never got to go Florida to see her and I didnt make it for shiva either because there were no flights and the ones that were available were unbelievably expensive. My dad was scheduled to go to Fl the following week so he had to just change his tickets.

I am sure I will eventually make peace with them, but for now I just cant. My cousin is getting married and she invited the entire family to her e-party except me and my parents and I just cant forgive her for that. I feel I should be the better person and invite her, but I just dont see how I could.

Thanks though for sharing your experience with me.
lilmrs Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

OK so I will say it..I am a stubborn, non forgiving Bitch. I hate when people tell me I should take the high road and be the bigger person and forgive someone in my family so I won't say it to you either. My advice...if YOU want to bury the hatchet then do it, but don't let anyone force or persuade you to do it.

edited because I don't know how to spell when I am hanging with Captain Morgan.
WithThisRing Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

thanks.
michele31 Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

I think it is great that your mother and father have decided to let your uncle learn from his mistakes and forgive but that doesn't mean you have. I think you anger is very harsh JMO. But in the end you have to do what feels right to you. I wouldn't fight with my Mom over it though. I would allow her to have her relationship with her brother, if that is what makes her happy.

Thrilled Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

I agree with Michele, Melissa. Believe me, if anyone knows from forgiveness, it's me. My real father abandoned me when I was 7 and I didn't see him again til I was 15. He had spent the last 8 years being drunk and high God knows where. I further discovered that I had a half-brother I never knew existed (born in 1977) that he had never bothered to tell me about. I was 23 when I found that out. I harbored such anger and rage that it was wearing me out. It was literally exhausting me. I prayed every night for GOd to help me to forgive him, as he had gotten sober in 1988 and has thus far remained so.

Eventually I didforgive him, and feel much better for having done so, but our relationship is very neutral right now. I have no idea if I will see him at the wedding.
And at the end of the day, it's just a house. Seriously. Money, houses, etc, mean nothing if you don't have love. I'm not saying turn around and welcome your uncle back with loving arms (I suspect the remorse was genuine), but at least cut your mother some slack....she loves you both.
WithThisRing Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

Thanks. Its just going to take some time for me. Even though its over a year, I just cant believe how family can treat other family members with such disrespect.

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts. This is something I am definatly going to need time with and I am sure eventually I'll be able to forgive them both but I just cant do it at the moment. If my mom is happy then thats all that matters to me
Marcela1654 Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

I am usually a forgiving person. But when someone does something that is so hurtful and mean, it takes me a lot (if at all) to forgive them. So I understand what you are going through. So I agree with DLWDLG. You need to do what is best for you and only you can make the decision to forgive them.

Good Luck
WithThisRing Posted:

Re: I guess I am just a non forgiving person

thanks marcella

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