Beyond Layers Homework

Hi Friends! I hope that your weekend went well and that you are off to a good start to the new week!

My prayers go out to all who are in or near the path of the hurricane/storm.  And that it would not be a repeat of Katrina.

Today's lesson at Kim Klasson's Beyond Layers is to take a quote using or pertaining to the word "life" and combine it with a photo. This is one that I had in my files from Smith Gilbert Gardens here in Kennesaw.

I have been neglectful of my lessons the last couple of weeks. But now that the weather is cooling down a bit , I will get out and take some new photos.

Peace and Love,

courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Linking to Beyond Layers:

Some things can't be fixed

At 90th birthday family reunion

Some things can't be fixed. Families can be complicated at the least but when mental illness enters the picture, it becomes a nightmare.

My mother in law and her oldest daughter have a very unnatural relationship in which the daughter controls the mother. In psycho babble it would be called "co-dependency". But that hardly explains the reality of this situation. This is the stuff of a Betty Davis movie.

I will here refer to the oldest daughter as OD. OD began her path of destruction early on when she was in high school. According to all family members, she would keep her mother captive not physically but spiritually, in the car for hours in the driveway, while the father and other children fended for themselves. No one knew what transpired exactly as nothing was said by either of them.

In her strange control, she turned her mother against the father. "He's no damn good" MIL would say about him. When going to pick him up at the hospital after recovering from a  heart ailment, they were told that he died. Would he maybe have died of a broken heart?

OD has retained control of everything that MIL does and says, which now explains why when we call, all she will talk about is the weather. MIL is not allowed to use a computer or a cell phone. She has related to other family members  that she is abused verbally if she does anything that OD doesn't approve of. 

Don't think that the family has not tried intervention. MIL refuses to be taken out of her nightmarish lifestyle. There are some secrets about this strange relationship that we will never know.

This all came clear to my husband as he traveled 14 hours to see his mother after being alerted that she is in failing health. When he talked to her alone and asked her how she was doing, she said that she "just didn't want to talk about it....it upsets me too much."

I don't know if this is mental illness or is just pure evil possession. But it is out of our control. And so MIL is living a life of quiet desperation. Only God can help.

A few Tulip Pictures

 

Hi sweet peeps! I sure hope you are having a good week so far! I am so enjoying this gorgeous weather. It is just so warm and wonderful. If you look outside my window, it is raining snowing pink petals from my huge cherry tree. And there is also a yellow haze of pollen all over the cars and patio furniture.  Not good for those with allergies.

 

I am having a ball editing photos that I took of some tulips that Katie's friend gave her recently. And I have fallen in love again with Flora Bella textures.

 The birds are out singing in the morning sun.

A Kim Klassen texture was added here.

Peace, love and joy to you! See you next time!

Linking up to these parties:

Where did all the years go?

Hi Friends! I hope you are doing well today!

Have you ever had someone say something to you that just broke your heart and hurt your feelings to the core? Of course, you have. Everyone has. And it especially hurts when it comes from your child.

Being an avid reader, I came across a dialog that made me realize what was happening in my own life; my relationship with my daughter who will be 25 next month.

This is from Elizabeth Berg's Once Upon a Time, There Was You:

Two friends talking: "You need to let her do some serious hating on you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she needs to feel free to hate you. Otherwise, she'll never free herself from you."

"Yeah, easy for you to say. You have sons."

"Well sons do it too! My sons had to hate me so they could leave and grow up. And they still hate me sometimes. They really hurt my feelings, sometimes! I've told you about stuff they've done. Come on, Irene. You know that's the way it goes. Kids are cruel to their parents. You did it too. When your father used to come visit, you'd be mean to him, if not in deed, then in thought. Then after he left, you'd be racked with guilt because you loved him."

This was my Ah Ha moment. So now I get it. My daughter is disconnecting with me so that she can be independent and on her own. I guess this is very normal and part of life. I am over the hurt now. And proud that my daughter will be moving out in March to share an apartment with her friend.

Isn't she gorgeous! And smart too.

Thanks for visiting today. Stop by sometime for a cup of tea or coffee.

Have a wonderful evening!

♥Charlotte