I sat and watched her face as she absorbed the news. The information I'd been hanging on to for the weekend, but the subject came up. So I let it out.
A wash of differing emotions crossed her face. First- shock, pain. Then resignation and finally a disappointed acceptance.
For two days I carried the knowledge of just how small minded, mean and petty a person can be. How some people cannot see past their own personal feelings. Would rather continue a cycle that now appears never ending.
Christmas gifts purchased for her younger brother and sister, returned....still wrapped, unopened. Carefully selected items, as one is still an infant, to let her siblings know that she still loved them. Even if she didn't see them. She thinks of them every day.
Left in a bag between two doors, after school commenced Monday morning. Vindictive enough to drive over to leave them but not the courage to return them in person.
As I consider this, I watch mutely as her eyes take on a sheen of unshed tears. Racking my brain for something soothing, comforting to say...but nothing comes. What do you say to a slap in the face as such. Stubborn as she is, she refuses to give in to the tears.
In many ways I am proud of her. And in twice as many my heart aches for her. He is acting like a petulant child denied his own way, and she the tough loving parent who stays the course of her beliefs.
I fear for how this will end. The effort he will make to try and stay connected to her siblings. The siblings he is turning into pawns, with holding them to punish her for his perception of how she has wronged him.
I fear the excuses and lies he will tell his children, to justify his actions. And their belief in him. How it will shape their idea of her. I see this weighing heavily on her heart.
I watch this happening and I keep wondering who is the parent and who is the child?? The "parent" is 36 years old. The "child" is 14 years old.
