Gransnet forums

Estrangement

Christmas without Son, his wife and 2 Grand Daughters

(103 Posts)
Rad14 Thu 26-Dec-24 15:25:29

My story is as follows.
Male, Married for 45 years. Living in Northern Ireland.
My wife has suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for the last 33 years.

2 Sons. Youngest has autism and learning difficulty. Lives about 5 minutes from us in his own flat.

Oldest son, 41. married an Australian girl after meeting on the Internet. They have 2 daughters aged 7 and 10.

After a fall out after their wedding, in 2007, our son has chosen to drop us totally from his life. He doesn't speak to us or corresponds in any way. We see our grand daughters once every fortnight on Zoom calls for 45 minutes.

Sometimes we don' see them for weeks at a time.

We have written to our son numerous times, have apologized often for the family rift, but still he refuses to have anything to do with us.

We see our other son on Christmas Day and Boxing Day for a few hours, but due to his condition, conversation is practically non existent and extremely limited.

Our hearts are broken, especially when we might have had the chance to go to Australia to see our grand daughters for a short holiday, and their parents told us not to come, that they didn't want us there.

BTW, I might add that our oldest son has also chosen to ignore his only brother. He doesn't even send him a Christmas card! My wife deals with all this by closing her mind to it all, and won't talk about it. I, on the other hand, have now developed a drinking problem, which has accelerated over the last number of years.

Happy Christmas

Smileless2012 Fri 27-Dec-24 12:28:29

Not all of her posts were incoherent petra and a few of us had our suspicions. There were similarities in the posting style; often goady, looking for an argument and at times very anti EP's.

If this is the case, as you say Grunty '^an own goal^ tchgrin.

Cossy Fri 27-Dec-24 11:41:15

Please do get help with your drink issues. My husband had a heart attack at 65 mainly due to drinking and smoking.

He’s cut right back, but still cannot give up either drinking nor smoking. His saving grace is his low BMI/cholesterol/BP.

He wasn’t a “nice, funny drunk” he was utterly horrible.

I have ME/Osteoarthritis/Fibromyalgia/Type 2 diabetes and high BP, my stress levels were off the scale.

Please address those issues, look after your wife and be grateful for the zoom calls.

Our children will never forgive their father for wrecking their childhood, but they are civil to him and support me, we are all very lucky.

Good luck flowers

Babs03 Fri 27-Dec-24 11:30:16

Several trolls have called Luminance ‘Violet Sky’, could just be mischief, but is a strange thing to do.

Grunty Fri 27-Dec-24 10:39:27

Then why have Luminance's posts been deleted petra? And AGuinessADay's? I reported it to GNHQ and asked them if they could check and they wouldn't have deleted without good reason?

petra Fri 27-Dec-24 10:23:25

Grunty

So is Luminance actually VioletSky?

I don’t think so.
If you read other posts from Luminance they are perfectly coherent. Unlike the ramblings of VioletSky.

Grunty Fri 27-Dec-24 10:10:22

Cover blown by an own goal! grin

Bridie22 Fri 27-Dec-24 10:08:45

Not if they come back with different email and username, Grunty.

Grunty Fri 27-Dec-24 09:58:29

Well GNHQ would know if they have a previously banned poster creeping back in?

Allsorts Fri 27-Dec-24 09:15:35

Who knows Grunty!

Grunty Fri 27-Dec-24 09:10:38

So is Luminance actually VioletSky?

Whiff Fri 27-Dec-24 06:50:20

GuinnessAday trolls just love estrangement threads and they don't need a reason to appear . They just love disrupting a thread . Many threads have been deleted because of them . And they turn out to be banned posters who have used different names and email addresses to get back on .

Interesting you say VioletSky she was banned a while ago . Strange you say 'I don't see the point VioletSky? ' 🤔

She caused nothing but trouble and many users of estrangement threads think some or all the trolls are her getting back on .

Rad14 I hope you come back on and let us know you will get help with your drinking . Your wife and son need you and with their help even though your son has autism and learning difficulties they love you and you them .

Enjoy your facetime with your grandchildren at least you do get to see them growing up.

Allsorts Fri 27-Dec-24 06:42:26

Grunty, some tine ago a very deranged poster called violet caused mayhem. Many of us recognised her fragile mind set and ignored, others were drawn into long frenetic rants from her until she was removed, so I gather that was the reference and she's back under a different name(s) the long stupid ones. I believe in ignoring the trolls as health in the community doesn't work and so they come on here. Just ignore, I don't read them myself as they need help but obviosly can't get it.

Babs03 Fri 27-Dec-24 06:41:31

Grunty

Violetsky? How strange. hmm

Hmmm 🤔

Babs03 Fri 27-Dec-24 06:40:58

Drinking could be a form of self medication. If your wife has CF, one son is estranged from you and the other has autism, I imagine you feel pretty low sometimes and this could be a trigger for drinking. See your GP who will assess whether you are depressed, and will, as others on this thread have done, suggest seeking professional help for your drinking problem. You can’t do this alone. And putting your own mental and physical well-being first is essential before you can deal effectively with any other troubles in your life.
Wishing you all the very best with this.
🌺🙏🏾

Grams2five Fri 27-Dec-24 02:34:48

I would advise you to see the calls eith your grandchildren as the gift they are in a relationship you admit to be fractured for sometime.

Perhaps even more importantly I’d advise you to see about getting help with your drinking problem. There are many local groups and organizations that can help.

Grunty Fri 27-Dec-24 00:33:14

Violetsky? How strange. hmm

Luminance Thu 26-Dec-24 22:27:52

You are right to correct me, I had not taken into account the amount of time. It all sounded so raw. Treasure the calls, that contact with the grandchildren is precious indeed.

Luminance Thu 26-Dec-24 19:39:25

Perhaps we might start with what happened at the wedding? That might allow us a little more understanding. The drinking I am afraid is something you must address within yourself, your mind will look for excuses to drink more and they are excuses because drinking is your own choice. Alcoholics Anonymous would be a great way to help yourself beat this.

pascal30 Thu 26-Dec-24 19:24:19

You have many problems to contend with Rad14 and as your wife doesn't want to discuss this issue with you it might help you to talk to someone else. Have you thought of joining AA?

I think it would give you a lot of help, friendship and support.. you clearly can't continue drinking without it affecting your Mental and physical Health.. goodluck

M0nica Thu 26-Dec-24 19:15:20

You see your grandchildren for 45 minutes every fortnight on Zoom, you should be counting your blessings! Many estranged grandparents would give their right arm to be in that situation. they have not seen or heard from their grandchildren for years.

So stop drinking, stop feeling sorry for yourself, be grateful for what you have and build on it.

I know and understand that in an ideal world you and your son and family would be reunited and happy together. But few of us live in ideal worlds and estrangement is what some have to deal with.

There is a prayer that goes:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. It is one you would benefit from making.

Astitchintime Thu 26-Dec-24 17:49:21

I am sorry to read about your estrangement from your son and the difficulty in seeing your grandchildren. However, the answer is not in the bottom of a bottle - do get help in stopping the drinking as you are no good to your wife or younger son if and when your health becomes problematic through the alcohol, and it will.
No child wants to be part of a zoom chat with an inebriated grandparent who slurs their words and cannot focus on the conversation!
Why do you only see your youngest son on Christmas Day and Boxing Day if he only lives 5 minutes away from you? I sense there is more going on.

crazyH Thu 26-Dec-24 17:35:10

Please seek help with your drink problem.

crazyH Thu 26-Dec-24 17:33:07

I am the youngest of a family of nine. Four of my brothers were high functioning alcoholics. How they functioned I do not know. Sadly, all of them died in their 60s,

NotSpaghetti Thu 26-Dec-24 17:16:57

The zoom calls are "worth something" though. They show the children that you do care about them.

There are alcoholics who are ex-drinkers here on Gransnet- maybe they will pop over soon but drink is not your friend!

Now is a good time to make contact with a local group and work on this.
flowers

Thinking of you.

DiamondLily Thu 26-Dec-24 17:10:02

To be fair, if your wife has had CFS for that long , it’s unlikely she’d be able to that journey anyway.

You, seriously, need to get help with your drink problem.

And then, you and your wife would best just doing the zoom calls and enjoy your life. 🌺

You can’t change what others do. 🤷‍♀️