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Elderly parents

Would this bother you? - death and sibling related

14 replies

Twitterwhooooo · 14/01/2022 14:23

Hope no-one minds me posting, but I feel the need to get some 'objective' perspectives on this situation.

My mum died six weeks ago. I have one sister who emigrated to Australia 12 years ago, having lived abroad for a few years before that and having lived in Australia for several years before that. Her partner and child are Australian.

I have always lived in the UK about 100 miles from my mother. We have never had a close relationship by any measure for various reasons, although I have always kept in touch with her. The way I think of her is as someone with some sort of 'emotional disablity' whereby her bitterness over the past and belief that her daughter's role was to look after her got in the way of her having good relationships with people in the here and now.

Although she was incredibly demanding and toxic, I knew that having grandchildren was very important to her and visited her, she visited us, I invited her to birthdays/Xmas etc. Basically, tried to facilitate her being a grandmother in ways that caused me and my children as little distress as possible. It was really difficult and distressing for me tbh.

My mum's health began deteriorating about 7 years ago, and I was obviously the one visiting, giving her lifts to appointments, organising care, lifeline etc. Her health really deteriorated the last year, lots of hospital admissions, carers involved, social workers involved, lots of calls to life line etc. She sometimes phoned me 20 times a day (when she was developing a UTI etc). As people on this board know, it's an incredibly stressful time, along with working, my family etc. She refused to have a cleaner/use a laundry service, so I did what I could.

Obviously with covid etc, it would have been incredibly difficult for my sister to visit, although she did phone her etc. She came over as soon as travel restrictions lifted in Australia - my mum was in hospital, moved into a nursing home and died a few weeks after my sister got her. I was very relieved that she had managed to see her and spend some short time with her before her death (covid meant that visiting very restricted) and in all honestly, it gave me a break from the slog of doing everything. I've always known that it will be me sorting out her house etc, so after years of being on the frontline and knowing more was ahead of me, I took a step back.

My 'would this bother you?' is about what feels like my sister 'writing me out' of the story of my mother's ill health and death. The speech she gave at my mother's funeral thanked her neighbours for helping her maintain her independence but not me. She's made various social media posts talking about her coming to the UK, my mum dying etc without 'tagging' me (which she does for other posts) or even mentioning me. She mentioned that some of the leave she had was 'Carers leave' which was very nice of her organisation, but I suppose it feels that if she saw herself as a carer seeing my mother for an hour at a time when she was somewhere being looked after, why couldn't she acknowledge my role - which has been very time-consuming and demanding - over the years?

Am I being over-sensitive?

I have absolutely no intention of ever mentioning this to my sister btw, she's very self-absorbed and wouldn't 'get it' but I do need to process it somehow.

TIA

OP posts:
CorrBlimeyGG · 14/01/2022 14:30

I'd think it odd to thank your sister for caring for her own mum. You thank neighbours etc because they're going out of their way to help.

Bekind2yourself · 14/01/2022 14:39

It would bother me too. I have a similar mother. I may be projecting here. I would do those things out of duty not love. To then have the neighbours acknowledged and not me would really bother me. The fact your sister is self absorbed would mean she doesn’t even recognise the sacrifices you’ve made. I think you have every right to feel the way you do even if other people don’t see it that way.

ButEmilylovedhim · 14/01/2022 14:49

I would be upset and annoyed too OP. It might be that if she acknowledges or thanks you for what you’ve done, it highlights what she hasn’t done. I mean she couldn’t do anything anyway, living abroad, covid etc but she might feel guilty? Possibly a reach given what you’ve said about her. It’s more likely on balance that she has taken what you did for granted and that does reflect badly on her. And she wanted her kudos and sympathy hence the speech at the funeral and the stuff on social media.

You did very well by your mother and I think you should be proud of yourself. You need to rest and get over everything that has happened, your relationship with your mum and how hard the caring has been. I feel for you with the house and all the admin to sort with no help. Maybe counselling would help to unpick everything and get it off your chest. I have some insight into this but not nearly as extreme as your situation but I can imagine how you’re feeling. Writing it all down and rereading helps too. You can rant away and get it all out. Thinking of you Flowers

WhatHaveIFound · 14/01/2022 14:51

It would bother me too and I say that as someone who's also had to shoulder the burden of looking after elderly parents with a sibling overseas. You have every right to feel upset that you haven't been thanked at all.

AntiHop · 14/01/2022 14:56

I completely get why you are upset. Your sister should have thanked you and acknowledged everything you did, and acknowledged how hard it was.

campion · 14/01/2022 15:14

You say that she's self absorbed. This often goes alongside insensitive and lacking in empathy. She's taken you for granted and I don't blame you for feeling put out. I get why you don't want to rock the boat with her but maybe you could describe some of the things you did for your mum next time you speak to her. She may not want to listen, but crack on with it anyway.

I was in a bit of a similar position but I made sure Dbro knew exactly what I was doing, difficulties etc. He wasn't as bad as your sister but we did have a farcical situation at the scattering of my mum's ashes (too tedious to describe here) and I just let it go. I knew nothing useful would come of me saying anything to him so I had a bit of a rant later and everyone else was sympathetic.
You're completely justified to feel hurt so just unload it to someone supportive.

Twitterwhooooo · 14/01/2022 15:55

Thank you all for responding so quickly.

Exactly, Bekind2yourself it was from duty not from love that I did what I did, including facilitating as good a relationship as possible with my children.

ButEmilylovedhim Yes, I was aware that my sister did feel guilty. I kept her updated with what was going on 'eg saw mum today, pain quite bad, I'm going to email GP on Monday etc' but spared her 'mum has called me 20 times today' or 'lifeline called me 3 times during the night' etc. I always made my messages factual, sound as though everything was under control and NEVER said anything about doing it all myself etc. She never once thanked me or acknowledged that it might be a lot for one person, but often found fault it what I'd done or suggested that I do more.

I suppose I thought that her coming over and spending some time with my mum would reduce her guilt, so that she could be a bit more thoughtful about what my role had been.

I think it was validation that I would have liked rather than thanks. Her partner's father died not long after she'd emigrated and she knows exactly how much work is involved in supporting a cantankerous older person that you don't particularly like towards the end of their life. There were 6 siblings all living nearby as well, which was a bit different to the situation that I was in!

It did sting a bit that she got lots of 'ohhh, aren't you good for coming all this way' from people when the messages I got from the carers/social workers was 'can you organise x and could you go and visit more?' after years of doing all that I could.

OP posts:
zafferana · 14/01/2022 16:06

she's very self-absorbed and wouldn't 'get it'

Okay, well there's the reasoning behind her 'Me, me, me' SM posts and inability to thank you for all your hard work over the years with your mother while she was 12,000 miles away.

I'm guessing on some level or other she knows she's been an absent daughter and that swooping in at the very end is not the same as being there year in year out, like you've been. Her posts sound defensive to me, like she needs to prove to people on SM that she made the trip when it counted, that she was there at the end, etc. Maybe she inherited some of your mother's traits? Sounds like it.

As for you, you did your best for your mother, despite her being difficult and toxic, so I'd try to put your sister and her self-absorbed ramblings to one side. Your conscience should be clear. You did your daughterly duty, for what it was worth, so try not to give your sister too much head space. She will be gone back to Australia soon enough and I'm guessing you'll rarely see her again!

Twitterwhooooo · 14/01/2022 16:20

Yes, she's back in Australia now. My mum's funeral was between Christmas and New Year and she flew back straight afterwards.

We had all isolated between schools breaking up and the funeral, so that she could have a negative PCR for flying, including not seeing people outside.

Obviously, I would have liked to have seen my friends in the aftermath of my mother's death (and the anniversary of the death of my first child) but didn't 'cos negative PCR for flying, which of course was something else that she didn't seem to recognise.

But yes not planning to see her any time soon!

OP posts:
thesandwich · 14/01/2022 17:04

I’m so sorry op. We had similar with bil who emigrated and returned when il were v ill. Despite all the others supporting and sorting he made the speech at his mothers funeral all about him. And mawkish sm posts which bore no resemblance to the little time and attention he gave them when he was here. Fortunately dh has other siblings who knew the truth.
So hard. Be really kind to yourself. As someone wise on here said we do it because of who we are, not who they are.
🌺🌺

Twitterwhooooo · 15/01/2022 10:10

Thanks all.

It is helpful to have others confirm that it's fair enough that I'm bothered by this and that it's not a unique situation.

Condolences to others that this has happened to.

OP posts:
Tw1n2Twister · 15/01/2022 12:15

Sorry for your loss

The way I look at is
At the time, you did the best that you could for your DM
You also had your own life to live & your responsibilities too

What any body else did or didn't do was up to them

Mossstitch · 15/01/2022 12:50

Very similar scenario here too, I'd suggest your sister has similar traits to your mother as I have found with my self absorbed brother. I know it's difficult but try to let it go and not over think it (as I do going over conversations and things I should have said/done in the middle of the night🙄) and enjoy the peace from that phone not ringing continually (I actually changed my ring tone to something gentle as I was having a stress reaction to it afterwards 👍💐)

Wombat98 · 15/01/2022 19:54

Maybe the apple didn't fall far from the tree...

Some people are unable to put themselves in other's shoes.

You could have told her all the extra things but you know you did your best & that's all that matters.

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