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AIBU

Aibu to want my son back? His fiancé has taken him from me

(148 Posts)
FrillyGrill Wed 20-Dec-17 01:37:06

I have 3 sons (eldest 27, middle child 24, youngest 17) When my eldest son was 18 I moved from Britain to Australia, without him but with his other siblings. My son didn't want to go and my visa would have expired if I waited any longer.
So I made the choice to leave Britain. Regretfully our contact waned. Years later when my eldest was 26 I offered him the chance to come to Australia. By this time he had been in a relationship with someone, I'm not sure how long but I know they lived together for 12 months by this point.
He refused to leave her behind, so I put my support behind her too and 8 months later they arrived in Australia.
The plan was for them to stay with me while they found work then move out and live locally.
I found his girlfriend difficult to live with, she was clean and pleasant enough but she smoked a lot. She never did so in the house but I could always smell it on her. She was very forgetful and would forget to put things away after using them, I also found her very dependant on my son. Asking him things like "where's this got to? Have you seen x?" I wonder why she didn't look for herself. She seemed pretty useless. My son didn't seem happy. I started snapping a bit and there was an altercation with my Dh too.

He found a job, she didn't. But they could manage on one income and so they decided to move out. I'm very hurt that they did so without telling me. I went to work one day, as did Dh. My other son (16 at the time) was in the house at the time. They had a large cab turn up at 10am and were gone within 20 minutes. They initially had told me they were going to move out 3-4 days after the day they actually did. I also found out second hand that they are now engaged they didn't think it worthy to tell me. I haven't seen his fiancé since.

I saw him that night when he returned his house key but didn't see him again for another 2.5 months, he came over to get some post and we had a coffee. I invited him to barbecues and gatherings but there was always something else to be doing or he was working.
On his younger brothers 17th birthday he came around and stayed for about an hour, brought a card and a present, had a single drink then went home.
I have not seen him since. This was 5 months ago. He has stopped responding to my texts.
Our text contact all but died when I said well if your fiancé was so smart and great with words, she'd be employed by now surely? (This was in response to ds saying his fiancé would happily help youngest ds with his resume, as she was good at that and always knew what to say for the best)
Ds snapped at me and told me she does have a job (nobody had told me that so it was fair to assume she was still unemployed I think) and that my judgements about her were unwelcome. I stupidly also said that I see him less now than I did when he was in the uk.
He pointed out this was "horseshit" since I never bothered to visit. I wanted to visit its just such a long journey and I hate flying so much.

He stopped talking to me then. He hasn't spoken to me for almost 2 months now.

I later found out from middle son that eldest son and his fiancé were having a dispute with the letting agents with regards to some issues (floor damage, I believe) and might have to move. He also shared that eldest sons fiancé is pregnant.

I text eldest son asking where he was moving to. No response. I asked when she was due to give birth. No response.

I text again telling eldest son I was worried about him and invited him to live with me again until he sorted himself out, no response.
At this point he also stopped responding to middle sons contact.
Middle son went to eldest sons home. Eldest son was gone. Middle son contacted the letting agent they had moved out four days prior. Letting agents declined to share further info or forwarding address. Middle son then went to eldest sons work place and asked to speak to him. He was informed by the manager that he had left his job 7 days prior to that and they have no knowledge of where he has gone.

Middle son did speak to a friend/ex coworker of eldest son and friend did say he knows where he's gone but declined to share the information, stating only that he was still in Australia and is doing ok.

I know this is all because of his fiancé.
I just want my son back.
I've brought him (and his fiancé) across the world to have my son back and it seems that I've just lost him instead. I wish I hadn't bothered.
Aibu to just wish his fiancé would let me have my son back?
She has isolated him from everyone and I worry he is being abused by her.
He says he's happy but I don't think he is.
I don't know where he is - Australia is huge and I could drive for 20hrs in a straight line without stopping and still have another 40hrs of driving to do, without reaching the other end of Australia. He could be anywhere.

Luckygirl Fri 22-Dec-17 08:57:11

Yup - me too; but I always feel that I should treat them as genuine - unless sports shoes feature!

Several decades of SW convince me that there is nowt so queer as folk, so nothing that people do or say would surprise me.

Nelliemoser Fri 22-Dec-17 09:06:20

I am also begining to feel there is a familiar pattern here. The blunt basic answer to the OPs question "AIBU" is yes you are.

Alexa Fri 22-Dec-17 09:12:22

Times and places when the grandmother and mother was more important to the family than the daughter in law, and sons would respect that their mother was more important.

We don't know what culture the OP identifies with. My guess is that she needs to know who she is in terms of the UK at the present time where mothers are not as important as spouses to the sons.
Probably , as she is a mother, her priority will be to support her son whatever he perceives her status to be, even as seems to be the case his wife always gets the prize.
In all this, I sympathise with her suffering. We all make mistakes and some mistakes bear heavy consequences.

It helps nobody to blame them for mistakes.

Alexa Fri 22-Dec-17 09:14:31

PS what does AIBU mean?

Eglantine21 Fri 22-Dec-17 09:16:13

Oh I thought we were not supposed to say that we don't think someone is real. I am dying to say it!!!!

NannyTee Fri 22-Dec-17 09:48:25

I've been wondering what that meant too ??

Elegran Fri 22-Dec-17 10:07:11

AIBU is short for, "Am I being unreasonable?" and the answer here is, "Yes, you are being unreasonable".

Several people are questioning whether the OP (original post or poster - all these abbreviations and acronyms are listed on the Acronym link) is justr a wind-up. The sad fact is that while it may be, there really are women who do feel that their son belongs entirely to them like a pet poodle or a diamond ring, and when he finds his life partner they believe that a precious possession has been stolen.

NannyTee Fri 22-Dec-17 10:09:16

Thanks Elegran

Starlady Fri 22-Dec-17 12:10:31

How I see this after having read OP and skimmed through the rest...

Frilly, imo, pds (oldest dear son) and his df (dear fiancee) left your home and became engaged secretly because they sensed your dislike of dil. Same with not telling you she was pregnant. They stopped all contact with mds because he shared information with you that led to an unwanted (sorry) text on your part.

At that point, my guess is, sorry to say, ods and df decided they wanted some space from you and yours and so chose not to let you or your other dss have any knowledge of their whereabouts, etc. Friend/former co-worker was probably asked not to give you people any specific information about ods and family. I know that must hurt and I'm sorry.

As pps have said, there is more going on here. I think ods has gotten mixed messages from you for a long time. You claim to want him in your life, but have done much to push him away (including the negative comments about df). I'm sure you love him, but perhaps you have always found him difficult in certain ways? Imo, you need to sort out your feelings before you do anything else.

DF hasn't "isolated" him, they are protecting themselves and their baby from negativity. Also, ods may need time to sort out his feelings as well. It may be hard to wait, but please give him the time to do so. Yes, maybe text/email him that you love him - and that you're sorry you criticized df. But then leave it to him to make the next move. In time, he probably will.

Jalima1108 Fri 22-Dec-17 14:21:01

We are not supposed to say that we don't think someone is real, it is t** hunting.

And yes, there are mothers who behave like this, who think that their son's wedding day is the worst day of their life and then blame the DIL for keeping them at arm's length.

Jalima1108 Fri 22-Dec-17 14:22:04

that word in the post above should have had t followed by four btw - I am sure you know the word I mean.

Jalima1108 Fri 22-Dec-17 14:22:24

oh, for goodness' sake ***************

Jalima1108 Fri 22-Dec-17 14:22:43

those things!

loopylou Fri 22-Dec-17 15:37:31

Or 'Under the bridge dwellers' Jallima?
I find it hard to believe that the OP doesn't know exactly where she's gone wrong; she must be seriously obtuse or deluded that harassing her DS1 will produce the results she wants confused
Personally I wouldn't want her within 15,000 miles of me if I were her DS or her DiL; toxic barely begins to describe the 'relationship'!

IngeJones Fri 22-Dec-17 15:50:58

We could have a contest to see who can type the longest line of ***************** :D

Baggs Fri 22-Dec-17 16:34:33

One usen't to be able to do more than three * on Gransnet.

I've noticed one can include emojis in thread titles as well. That's another new thing.

Baggs Fri 22-Dec-17 16:35:25

I typed three asterisks! ?

************

Baggs Fri 22-Dec-17 16:35:59

?

Jalima1108 Fri 22-Dec-17 17:24:03

we could draw a line under this as the OP doesn't seem to be coming back now

*******************************************************************

Jalima1108 Fri 22-Dec-17 17:24:13

nearly

WilmaKnickersfit Sat 23-Dec-17 00:39:23

**************************************************************************************

tchwink

IngeJones Sat 23-Dec-17 11:11:53

:D

Cold Sat 23-Dec-17 13:05:59

No OP?

tchbiscuit

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Dec-17 15:46:38

I still want to find out about the visas .....
Probably because I am just too nosy inquisitive

mrsmopp Sun 24-Dec-17 15:03:24

To those who think this is not a genuine request from someone with a question, can anyone explain why would anyone invent this? It was a long post with a lot of detail in it. I wish she would come back on here and and enlighten us. Where are you, FrillyGrill???