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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

He's died... AIBU to feel bitter

44 replies

golf7 · 04/02/2025 03:16

When i was growing up my dad or the man I thought was my dad worked away alot. I woke up one night when I was little and heard my mum in bed having sex with someone. I knew my dad was working away . To this day I can still remember the feeling of fear panic and terror hearing what was happening.

When I woke for school next morning this man was folding up blankets on the sofa . He was My mums friend and he had stayed over. Only I know he didn't.

I can't explain how or why but it planted this seed of doubt in my mind. When I reached my teen years my older brothers who had moved out and were adults told me this friend was likely in fact my father. My dad who worked away was a married man leading a double life with my mum and had a vasectomy before I was born. He knew I wasn't his but played the role of 'dad' when was able.

Wind forward many years and both of these men disappeared from my life without so much of a backwards glance. And I began looking for them to establish paternity. Asking my mum just resulted in lies , bullshit and more questions that it answered.

I tracked down both and it turned out actually neither was My father. The search went on and 2 more men entered the frame. One was my brothers boss and another was my mums old employer. Turns out it was him who was mu dad. He died when I was a child seemingly not knowing I exited. (I did dna testing with his other children so no issue with paternity )

Essentially 4 men in the frame. I was given the first name of one last name of another. Middle names of a third. 3 of the ones who knew about me. 1 knew ibcouldnt he his. The other 2 thought I probably was but did nothing to find out. Then abandoned me and pissed off. It took me looking for them.

Well the last one of those men died today. He's the one I heard with my mum in the night.

My memories are of a teddy and certain piece of jewellery he brought me. My mum would burn incense when he had been round to hide the smell of his aftershave. He picked me up from school once. I can picture him standing against his car smiling at me. The other 2 memories are hearing him that night and seeing him all over my mum through a slightly open door.

But he's died today.
I feel sad. Sad for that inner child. That little girl.

I also hope he died alone. Alone the way he left me. Alone and I felt abandoned. I have all my life. I have an anxious attachment style. I ended up in an abusive marriage. My husband would punch and beat me and say my dad never f*ing wanted me .

He left me alone in life. Now he's left me in death. They all have now. All of those men.

He's the last one. It's opened every wound. And horrible thoughts. Nasty thoughts.

Someone handhold x

OP posts:
Craftyfloral · 04/02/2025 07:07

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Tanktanktank · 04/02/2025 07:11

I hope in time OP you find peace, 💐💐💐

golf7 · 04/02/2025 07:38

I was married and had 4 children with him. Now divorced. Sole custody. I work full time. Demanding job. Trying to help / fix others . Probably a pattern of my life.

Not siding with my mother whatsoever for the record. I am angry at her. I am also adult and understand how these things happen. She despite all this raised me on her own went without and would give me her last penny. Perhaps she over compensated due to the situation of my birth which she's very much responsible for .

However if I thought I probably had a child out there I would want to know. If ibwas kept away as dad's often are in childhood I would have tried to seek the person out once of age. We never moved house and remained in the same place until i was mid 20s

OP posts:
PublicImageLtd · 04/02/2025 07:40

YANBU

There's a series on Radio 4 of podcasts called The Gift about the impact of DNA testing. It's really cleverly put together and each one is different. Some people find their discoveries fill in a missing part, it tears others apart.

You might find it useful and recognise parts of your story in amongst others but most of all how DNA does shape us.

BBC Radio 4 - The Gift - Available now

Available episodes of The Gift

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gd2dgb/episodes/player

EdithBond · 04/02/2025 07:46

Oh, you poor thing.

You experienced childhood trauma. Both the original incident of being woken by a strange man having sex with your mum. And subsequently discovering he may (or may not) be your real father.

It’s a shame your mum can’t apologise to you, even now, for not thinking of the impact it all had on you. That’d give you a lot of closure before she dies. But looks like it won’t happen. However, your brother sounds wonderfully caring.

I strongly suggest counselling. Speak to you GP.

In the meantime, maybe some sort of little closure ceremony for yourself? Like, writing down everything you remember about this man, who you thought was your father, and how he made you feel. Get all the feelings out. Be really honest. Don’t leave anything lurking in your mind. Then dispose of it in some way: a little bonfire in your garden, thrown into the sea from a boat, bury it under a bush. Even though he wasn’t your father, sounds like he had that place in your mind (and maybe your heart) for some time. It’s important to let it go.

Then buy yourself a treat if you can. A nice piece of jewellery to remind yourself you’re strong without a father, or indeed any man.

BigFatLiar · 04/02/2025 08:15

He doesn't sound like a particularly bad person. Perhaps he found our in the end he wasn't your father but still wishes he was. You don't know what went on between your mother and him, it may have hurt him deeply to find out he wasn't your dad. Sounds like your mum wasn't in the best of minds either.

rwalker · 04/02/2025 08:16

So sad to read but ultimately the common thread is your mum I think your anger is at the wrong people

user1492757084 · 04/02/2025 08:27

You could write a book - a film script, Op.

It seemed that the men all liked you, and thought your Mum was fun. They trusted her to make all the decisions.
Your Mum seemed independent.
Did she love being in charge of her domain?
Did you sense that she hated being dependent on a man?

Op, you might really enjoy reading Monkey Grip by Helen Garner. It is set in the late 1970s. The main character, Nora, reminds me of your mother. Your mother probably didn't have any bad intentions for you; she chose an unstructured lifestyle and did her best in her own way.

RedHelenB · 04/02/2025 08:47

ladycarlotta · 04/02/2025 06:36

Oh that's that sorted then, glad you were here to set OP straight at last.

Dwelling on the past is rarely helpful.

NeedToChangeName · 04/02/2025 08:57

illegalSausage · 04/02/2025 06:36

Was paternity testing an option at the time? It's remarkable you find empathy for your mum, I'd be livid at her. She had multiple men coming and going, loud sex with children at home, shagged married men, lied and continues to lie about your dad. I hope in time you find the empathy for your dad as well. The times were different and your mum is largely to blame tbh. It's good that guy tried to pretend to have been sleeping on the sofa. Lonely doesn't excuse your mums behaviour, this tangled mess is mum's fault.

Edited

I think that's harsh. Sounds like OP's mother had issues from her own childhood which may have led to her being vulnerable to exploitation by married men

Devon24 · 04/02/2025 09:08

NeedToChangeName · 04/02/2025 08:57

I think that's harsh. Sounds like OP's mother had issues from her own childhood which may have led to her being vulnerable to exploitation by married men

The problem is op’s mother was emotionally unavailable too.

Op as a child was not prioritised or cared for at all, her needs were ignored. This will compound her feelings of abandonment. There was no one looking out or caring for op during her childhood.

Whatever the issues or motivations her mother had, she was the adult in this scenario, and she should have taken more care of her children.

The fact the mother still refuses to acknowledge the harm this has caused op, lends itself very well to someone that is only considering themselves, and is still not concerned for the feelings of her adult child, and the harm caused because of her mother’s poor parenting and choices. Her mother is at least responsible for some of op’s pain and trauma. Taking responsibility is what adults should be doing.

Midnightlove · 04/02/2025 09:17

I think your anger is misplaced. It's your mother who slept with many men and didn't care to find out who your father was, get a dna test, or even tell you the truth. The men may (or may not) have stepped up if they knew they were the father for sure. They obviously knew she was with several men at the same time.

Anyway, I'm sorry for your childhood being so messy

SerafinasGoose · 04/02/2025 09:18

OP, my heart goes out to you after reading your desperately sad post.

I know something about that inner child. I also had issues with my father - in my case I knew exactly who he was but he was an abusive, violent monster. Even worse than the physical abuse were the hateful, soul-destroying, utterly damaging things he said to me. It caused some messy problems to unpick. It can affect adult attachment in some very strange ways, but, trite though it sounds, some consolation and peace for that child is within your gift. It takes a lot of pain, soul-searching and therapy, but it is possible.

For me, EMDR therapy has been more than effective - it's been life-changing. This is a therapy specifically targeted towards trauma/PTSD/cPTSD (I have the latter) - and simply overhearing your mother having sex with one of these men would likely classify as childhood trauma. Freud knew all about that: 'primal scenes', he called it.

I send a big virtual hug to that lost little girl that you were, and another one for the adult, should you want it. ❤

FindusMakesPancakes · 04/02/2025 09:26

This is on your mum.
However lonely she was, having relationships with multiple men, any of whom could have been your father, yet not the man she was married to, was wrong. And to refuse to answer your questions, also wrong. Difficult as it is, those men who were not your father owed you nothing.

Can you build a relationship with your half siblings from your actual father? If he didn't know you were his, maybe he would have supported you and been there?

I am sorry this happened to you.

Whistledown2 · 04/02/2025 11:25

OP. PP are saying this is all your Mums 'fault' I disagree. There are many people at 'fault' here. They didn't consider that little girl all those years ago, and sadly you are paying the price. My family do not realise what they did to my inner child either, no abuse but certainly no gentleness or consideration for who I was. I am also paying the price.

There is a reason your Mum won't say sorry, I wonder what that reason is. Would she agree to family therapy?

I definitely think you need counselling to make sense of everything and hopefully find some peace of mind. You're a tortured soul and you need to find a place of safety inside of you.

Bless your heart OP. None of the posters (including me) really understand how you feel, we can only imagine.

crossstitchingnana · 04/02/2025 15:20

What did you need back then? Whatever it was then you provide it, for you. Look after that little you and you will begin to heal.

golf7 · 07/02/2025 12:53

Thankyou for all taking the time to comment and for being supportive.

I feel an intense raging anger today I can't really articulate. I also feel an intense desire to drink later. I am trying hard to ignore that .

With regards to what little golf7 needed.. the young child in me. I picked up a photo earlier of myself from around the time I heard him with my mother. I picked it up and looked into that child's eyes. And I wanted to pull her from it and hold her as tight as I can. Tell her she's loved and I will never hurt her. She's a lovely caring person and very special. I have come shopping just by myself for a little while and I have her tucked in my pocket. Wete going to go for a hot drink and look in the shops. We might pick some nice treats for a nice bubble bath and curl up in bed later and watch TV.

I haven't told my mum yet he's died. I don't want to see or speak to her at the moment. I just can't do with having a conversation with her about it. So I am leaving it for now.

I have seen his photo appear on social media but I have just muted it. I literally want to pull him through the screen and kill him... if he wasn't already dead. I don't really know why.

None of this makes sense. It's very confusing to me . I feel like I shouldn't exist. Not that I want to die or anything. As in I shouldn't have been born. I shouldn't be here.

I try and quieten those feelings. Squash them down. I am sitting with them and letting them pass through my mind now.

I think the letter I never send but burn is a good idea. I know the date of the funeral now and I might burn it on the same day and try and make it final

I told my children about this Tuesday. They know the history and back story anyway. My son spoke about it for a long while and asked questions about some of my feelings and I was able to unpick them a bit. But anyone close to me in all honesty doesn't understand and are a bit baffled by it all.

OP posts:
BigFatLiar · 07/02/2025 16:13

Try to remember that apart from one of these men they were not related and would have no right or obligation to see you. With the end of their relationship with your mum their relationship with you ended. It would have been inappropriate for a former boyfriend to continue to want a relationship with a child.

Smittenkitchen · 07/02/2025 17:32

I think in some way you were made to feel as if you shouldn't exist, though probably not deliberately. If your existence was a bit difficult to explain, that would be the message you received subconsciously. So identifying your biological father could be the pursuit of legitimising your whole existence. Be gentle with yourself because it's not ridiculous or unreasonable or really very strange at all, how you're feeling. It sounds so lovely and good what you're doing in an effort to give the little "you" what she needed.

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