I know a lot of us have had family trauma and dysfunction. 

My stuff is kind of complicated for me. I read about people who just have kind of shitty parents with not much else outside of the bad. 

My mom was a really good mom. She wasn't ready to have me. My dad was immature and didn't support her. She did a really good job all things considered. She worked hard and eventually started her own landscaping business. She was the first woman in Houston to establish her own business in this area. She had lots of really well to do clients who were also women and excited to support her. She had me in horse back riding, soccer, and supported all of my other activities. 


She never dated until she met my stepdad. He moved from Denmark to be with her and I wasn't ever very keen on it. I was nine. He was a big talker and said he would support her. She had chronic pain problems and he said he could take over and she could quit her business. From there, we were really pretty poor. He never stepped up. He was a crane operator who made decent money, but in not sure where it went. She let herself go badly, let the house go, started smoking. She started drinking wine heavily. I hadn't ever seen her drink and I would later learn she can't really handle it without getting drunk (and angry). She gained a lot of weight she had worked hard to lose. I thought things were bad then, but then she found he had cheated overseas with a coworker and also a prostitute in the Philippines. 


From there, she began drinking vodka very heavily. Full blow alcoholism. She would be awake and non functional, pass out, and then wake up to me being angry. I would yell at her and I felt so angry that she would act like things weren't happening? She wouldn't pick me up from school. We didn't have food a lot. I didn't have clothes, except for a few faded school uniform polos. I didn't really have friends and was super isolated. It was a hard time. 


She only got worse. My family tried to help, but they aren't exactly the kind to be understanding either. She's homeless now. She's been homeless for a couple of months. She had some screws from a previous injury come through her foot from bone loss caused by hyperthyroidism she developed. She doesn't drink anymore (I think but never really trust that), but she has no skills and bad health and couldn't work even if she tried. Ive been messed up by all of this but lately I'm just so sad that her life is this way. It makes me cry. My SO served a homeless lady at work and said his coworkers said cruel things. One person said "well she's still a person" and his manager said "not anymore she isn't". She has a gift card and ended up paying, but the whole story and how nervous the lady was about being watched, made me so sad. We both cried. He used to know my mom. She was a really smart and funny person. I don't know what happened. I feel terrible thinking that people see her and think she's less than. 