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Kimberly
Super March 2021

Fh’s daughter is holding our wedding hostage

Kimberly, on January 24, 2021 at 1:47 AM

Posted in Community Conversations 27

We’ve had a lot of drama with FH’s 17 year old daughter over the last 5 months. She was supposed to be one of my bridesmaids along with my 9 year old daughter and her twin brother is FH’s best man. FH talked to his kids about this before we officially asked to see how they would feel about it. We...
We’ve had a lot of drama with FH’s 17 year old daughter over the last 5 months. She was supposed to be one of my bridesmaids along with my 9 year old daughter and her twin brother is FH’s best man. FH talked to his kids about this before we officially asked to see how they would feel about it. We didn’t want to put them on the spot and make them feel they couldn’t say no. Daughter acted happy and excited to be in the wedding. So a few weeks later we asked them to be in the wedding and things were great. Or so we thought. About 5 months ago everything fell apart.
A little history... FH’s ex-wife died suddenly when his kids were 7. An obviously very difficult time for them to lose their mother like that. FH had them in therapy for 3 years to work through their feelings and grief and he thought they had done that as best as possible. There are still difficult moments in their lives and we recognize that. This past August was the 10th anniversary of her passing and their grandparents (ex-wife’s parents) always want the kids to go to the annual memorial service and this past year was no different. However, FH has not gone to the annual services in many years because as the kids got older he didn’t feel it was appropriate for him to be there. He always told them if they wanted him there he would go. They never said anything. Well this year apparently daughter did want him to go and was very angry with him that he didn’t go. She never asked him to go, didn’t even tell him she was going until the day before. At this point a lot of other stuff came out and she said she hated that me and my daughter moved in with them. She isn’t comfortable with her role in the wedding and she doesn’t even want to go to the wedding. She doesn’t want to be anywhere near us and she is going to kill herself.
Wow. Over several months, very expensive therapy, and many meltdowns we are now at a place where she isn’t living with us. She is living with FH’s mother in her one bedroom apartment. And she has to decide if she wants to be a part of the wedding or if she even wants to attend the wedding. She has until our RSVP deadline of Jan 29th. Then the other day I got a text from FMIL asking if we have an alterations appt for daughter and that she is on board with everything. I didn’t respond but called FH who immediately called FMIL to tell her that if this is daughter’s decision that she has to come to us and tell us. He then called daughter and told her the same thing. She acted shocked that FMIL had text me that and told FH that she thinks she knows what she’s going to do. But didn’t elaborate. Then tonight she said she needed to come over to get something. I thought maybe she was ready to discuss the wedding and her plans. Nope. Not a word. She is going to wait until the deadline just out of spite. She is basically holding our wedding hostage. We’ve already gone through the back and forth of should we cancel or not and decided that we weren’t going to let her dictate our future together. But it still is so hard. I just wish thinking about my wedding could be a happy note but instead this is what I get to worry about on a daily basis. I’m sorry this was so king and I appreciate anyone that made it to the end. I just needed to vent.

27 Comments

  • J
    Master 0000
    Judith ·
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    It will always be an important thing. But get past it to being a happy and functional person who mostly lives in the present, occasionally reviewing her loss / memories from a few years ago --- she most likely will. 4 of my sibs, 2 lost their mom, dad's first wife, at 7-8, and 2 lost their parents, my uncle and cousin, and my parents adopted their niece and nephew. And my parents had 5 of us, some before the adoption, some after, so we are nine brothers and sisters. All grown, none have ever been dysfunctional. They grieved, then built new relationships. My husband 's dad's brother and wife died, and they adopted those 7 to raise with their own 5 and 2 from father's first marriage. 14 kids. None with emotional issues or dysfunction. Two of ours are adopted. One was faling to thrive, retreated and only relating to her older 4 year old brother for over a year. They are happy kids, bonded to us and their sibs. That is an open adoption, and they talk of parents like they are from a long ago story, with their grandparents. But are beyond missing them. ... 🙂 a lot of people who lose one or both parents do accept it, and build emotionally healthy lives. If you have a loss you have never gotten over, I am sorry. But it does not mean others don't go on to be quite happy, and emotionally well adjusted.
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  • Samantha
    VIP October 2022
    Samantha ·
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    I have many losses and also have a fulfilling happy life.
    A approach a 17 year old girl un upheaval and add “get over your mom’s death” to the many issues she is dealing with is going to bring out the opposite of a happy wedding.
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  • J
    Master 0000
    Judith ·
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    She is not asking that she get over the mom's death. She is asking her to complete what she herself was excited about doing, a very short while ago, getting a dress she has already purchased, altered. And behaving with less hostility to her dad. Neither requires getting over mom's death. She needs to stop using mom's death as an excuse for getting out of things, or misbehavior. Passive aggressive and manipulative behaviors do not have their source in mom's death. They are very common teen behaviors, and she is expecting to be excused for her bad behavior and her direct rudeness as though her mom's death 10 years ago is a free pass. She is not being asked to just get over mom's death. She is being asked to not act out in teen ways, and say, I am bad and will continue to be any time I want, including therapy, school and home, and you have to let me, because my mommy died 10 years ago. That is self destructive behavior. Not grieving.
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  • Samantha
    VIP October 2022
    Samantha ·
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    I was replying to the person who said the daughter needs to get over the mother’s death.
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  • Samantha
    VIP October 2022
    Samantha ·
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    Look, we obviously have very different views about this.
    I had a child with rough teenage years and in hindsight see how much pain she was in. I was offering my perspective.
    I was specifically replying to the advice “she needs to get over her mother’s death.” That helps no one.
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  • Kimberly
    Super March 2021
    Kimberly ·
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    Yes! You understand it completely. This is exactly what is going on. She refused to deal with her grief back then and she still refuses to deal with it. It isn’t about “getting over it”. It’s about learning to deal with the grief so that you can replace those unhappy, sad memories of your loved one with happy memories. Until she learns to grieve and allows herself to do so she will always be miserable and make those around her miserable.
    You also nailed it saying she uses her mother’s death as an excuse for her bad behavior. She always has and this is no different.
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  • Michelle
    Rockstar December 2022
    Michelle ·
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    The more that she is pushed to "deal with this appropriately", "not use the death as an excuse", and so on, the further away she will be driven into something that cannot be repaired..the message sent that what she feels is not valid and she has to conform or not else be accepted by her own relatives. No one on the outside, parent/stepparent/stranger, gets to judge what is appropriate or not.
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