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Lost my stepfather but I feel like I'm losing my family too

Posted by brunchette

My stepfather was the closest person I had to a father. He was ill with ALS for a few years and it was the most debilitating in the past year. At first, my sadness was for the, "Wow, I knew it was going to happen but now it actually has." Now, my sadness is, that I don't know where I fit into my family now. I'm adopted and I moved out here with my adoptive relatives three years ago after my separation. But I left behind biological relatives in my hometown who, comparatively, I feel closer to. I feel like everybody's jockeying to be closer to my mom, now that she's alone, and each other and kinda pushing me out the way. I feel a little abandoned too because while I was still with my husband, I was there for him financially and emotionally for the deaths of his mother and brother but now, we haven't talked in so long that he didn't even know my stepfather was that sick and he said he just doesn't have the funds to even come out here. And my daughter has said some things to hurt my feelings lately and has been hanging out more with the other relatives here. I could deal with my husband's response if I had my daughter's support and conversely, I could deal with my daughter's response if I had my husband's support. It's like everybody's been there for my mom, including me, but besides my mom, I don't feel like my family has been there for me.

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