THE TROUBLE BETWEEN US

Anyone suffering the effects of estrangement with a close family member knows this is personal and private, feeling stigmatized, experiencing anything from despair to shame. Each and every version of an estrangement is unique and can last for so many years that the original reason for the falling out may be lost in time. For some, the rift may be short-lived when the people concerned get an opportunity to thrash out their differences and then move on naturally, forgiving and forgetting. While for others, there simply may not be the opportunity for the stalemate to be overcome and so the years pass with no movement on either side. Sometimes misplaced loyalty can go unnoticed for decades and what we innocently believed was the right thing to do only now exposes how terribly wrong our judgement may have been. This is the true story of one person’s life which, when examined closely, highlights the very thing that perpetuates the estrangements to come. It might be too late to put things right but counting losses can be much more beneficial than we can imagine. No academic or other qualification attained anywhere in the world can prepare us for the change a family estrangement will make to our lives and in order to validate my authority on this subject I put before you my own personal experience which I hope assures the reader how familiar I am with the emotional pain, distress and sadness of family rifts. I had doubts about my own sanity for a very long time but now I have found my voice and I’m not afraid to use it, here or anywhere. This is a factual account of what happened to me and I have only changed the names involved because apportioning blame is of no importance. What is important is that the contents will help give you the strength and courage needed to be able to recover from a most unnatural circumstance you may, unfortunately, find yourself in.