Re: seeking information

"JCav" <j35cav@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1159701491.577610.208160@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Phyllis Nilsson wrote:
"With the price of cigarettes, he'd probably be able to get his car
fixed if
he gave them up."

I was kinda thinking this but didn't want to sound like a hardass or a
stick in the mud. We all have our little vices that make life a little
more interesting or tolerable, but we have to know when to sacrifice
for our own well-being.

Kind of on topic, I wonder what others' opinions are on being
"obligated" to help care for parents who aren't elderly, but rather
their health problems and disabilities are a result of poor choices
rather than aging. What then? The scenario: Three siblings, 1
divorced male long-haul truck driver, 1 single male who owns his own
home and is looking to get married, 1 married daughter with 4 children.
Mother divorced, 56 years old (so not elderly) but disabled and unable
to work for the past year due to complications of diabetes, and super
morbidly obese, mostly confined to a wheelchair. Okay, you guessed it;
this is my family's situation. My mother has been morbidly obese and
diabetic for over 10 years, and at least 5 years ago, resigned herself
to a wheelchair. My youngest brother is really the only one that has
any room for her (my older brother rents a room from our younger
brother as he is only home 1 week out of 5; and I have a 3 bedroom home
with 6 people and refuse to put all the children in 1 room or have any
of them share a room with her), and the situation seemed to be okay
while she was able to pay her way, though it certainly wasn't ideal.
She is very abrasive and hostile, yells obscenities, and honestly she
is extremely lazy and slobbish. About a year ago, she was hospitalized
for a DVT and then transferred to a skilled nursing facility. She
actually stayed with me for a couple of months but her abuse was
outlandish. Even picking her up from the hospital, she had threatened
by 4-year-old that "if you don't shut up, I'm gonna shove my fist down
your throat." I absolutely refuse to have my children around her
anymore because no matter how much you confront her, she always has
some sort of "justification" for her behavior. I feel really sorry for
my brother because he can't bring himself to tell her to go even though
she belittles him, calls him all sorts of filthy obscenities if he
doesn't wait on her hand and foot (he finally refused to do her grocery
shopping long after I stopped doing it), and even treats his fiancee
the same way. I can't tell you the number of times his girlfriend has
called me in tears because of the verbal barrages. Makes me wonder if
she will eventually say her or me, and he won't be able to bring
himself to turn his mother out, and he will end up single and unhappy.
He is 34 years old, wants to get married, but has this weight pulling
him down. She is not elderly, refuses to change or lose weight and
really I think she could go to work if she put her mind to it, she just
has no problem with being a leech and feels an entitlement to do so
even if it ruins the lives of everyone around her. Truly, I wish I
knew what kind of advice to give my brother because he seems so tense
and fearful that he eventually will have to make a decision between his
mom and his girlfriend of 2 years. His fiancee is adamant she "will
not live under the same roof as that woman," so is he supposed to pay
for 2 homes when they get married next year? Not to mention all the
things he does that she can't or won't do; in short order, that home
would look like one of those houses that has been condemned as a health
hazard. It seems like an impossible situation.

Does she get disability? If so, she should be able to live (albeit
modestly) on her own. If she can't, then perhaps a small stipend from each
of the three, not just the brother, would enable her to. She doesn't sound
like someone that any of the children can live with (except maybe the
long-haul trucker who is gone all the time anyway - that's a thought). I
wouldn't expose the children to her, but still wouldn't do nothing at all,
either.

I'm sure it's apparent from my previous posts, but I feel very strongly that
barring some abuse so severe as to warrant removal from the home or criminal
prosecution (such as sexual abuse or something equally severe), the fact
that a person has a toxic personality isn't enough to merit complete
abandonment by one's children. I don't feel, as some here do, that this
applies to any family member. If I had a raging alcoholic "mean-drunk"
cousin, I certainly wouldn't feel the same obligation to him. But if they
did little else but raise you to adulthood, parents are the reason we are
here to begin with, and with that, I feel, come certain responsibilities.

To veer completely off-topic, I feel this way about pets, too. I have 3
cats. In recent years I've come less of a "cat person" than I once was. I
now find the hair, clawed furniture and catbox/canned food stink much less
charming than I did. I'd give anything to buy some new furniture (ooooh,
even leather) and know it wouldn't be destroyed in a month, or walk into my
house without smelling canned food, which one of my cats has to have because
of a medical condition. But I took these fellows on, and they're mine, just
like family members, so I wouldn't dream of giving them away or even being
particularly cross with them.

Parents, kids and pets. That's my list of unconditional responsibility.
I'd expand that to my 87-year-old grandmother in my case, but that's because
when I was little she babysat me while my mother worked and was essentially
a second parent to me.

YMMV, but to steal a phrase from Judith, it's my opinion, and I am unanimous
in it. :)

Sandi


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