I am the youngest of 6 children. My mother had her 1st 4 DC with her 1st husband who apparently died suddenly. My father then left my mother after she had had a further 2 DC with him (my older brother and I) when I was 4.
My mother then married again quite soon afterwards and the oldest 3 DC were packed off to boarding schools (2 at one school and the other at another) at the other end of the country to where we were living at the time.
I don't have much to do with my siblings. We were not brought up to be close. In fact I have just realised how odd it was that us three remaining siblings at home were all sent to different secondary schools even though there was only 3 years between the oldest and me. No SN to account for that either.
Having my own teenage DC now, I have just been asking myself how my mother could have sent the 3 oldest away after they had suffered so much trauma (my father was violent) and effectively lost two fathers. I feel sad for them.
AIBU?