There are certainly many unexpected things that happen in life. But I have to say, one of the most unexpected things that ever happened to me happened yesterday. And it was a small thing, a simple thing - but it still came as a surprise nonetheless: my mom friend-requested me on facebook.
Now, this would come as a surprise to most people, in the form of, "dude, my mom has a facebook?!" But for me, on top of that, it was, "dude, my mom wants to talk to me?!"
I can see I have some explaining to do. So, here's the watered-down Cliffs Notes version of the past five years of my life:
Setting - Pittsford, NY, September 2003. A pretty normal suburb in the grand scheme of things.
Cast of characters - One pretty normal nuclear family in the grand scheme of things - one mother, one father, one sixteen-year-old boy (Malcolm), one eleven-year-old girl (Larissa).
The strangeness all started with a death. It was my grandfather - my mother's father. He died in mid-September, 2003. That death, and the aftermath of it, tore my family apart. Things hadn't been the best before that - in fact, they had been downright miserable, with Mom and Dad bickering constantly and Malcolm getting ever-increasingly angry at the world, but it wasn't until after Grandpa's death that divorce was ever even mentioned. Mom says it was Malcolm's and my choice to have the divorce - that we came and talked to her. Honestly, I remember the conversation vaguely, but those months, and even my whole seventh and eighth grade years, are kind of a blur. I think my mind has blanked out a lot of it to protect me (those years were not good for me - I was severely depressed an even attempted suicide several times). No matter whose idea it was, my parents separated - my dad moved out that April (2004), and then there was a bunch of messy legal stuff that went down (they tried collaborative law, but it failed, so they went through the court system, where nothing went anywhere quickly). Throughout this whole thing, my brother and I were living with my mom - and all three of us hated - not disliked, hated - Dad. It seemed that all our woes were because of him. When we had to move out of our house in Pittsford and move ourselves into the city in the middle of my ninth grade year, we blamed it on him. This perception was strengthened by the fact that he moved in when we moved out. Anyways, as time went on, the divorce started to sort itself out - my mom got full custody of me, the divorce got finalized (two and a half years after it started), and I was starting to get used to Wilson (the school I went to for tenth and eleventh grades). Gradually, however, life at home for me with Mom got more and more stressful (a long and complicated mess), and it got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore. I was scared and desperate - so I ran away. I ran to a friend's house, where I lived for ten days, but I knew circumstances were such that I couldn't stay there any longer. My friend's mom told me I had to go back to a parent - she didn't say which one - and at first, I was sure I'd go back to my mom. However, a couple of phone calls that had occurred that week caused me to doubt my choice some. Once my dad had found out that I had run away, he called my friend's mom - just to make sure I was alright, not demanding that I go anywhere or do anything, just to be sure I was okay. When I called my mom during that time at my friend's house, she was cold and impersonal, and honestly, I was scared about what would happen if I went back. So, in a last-minute decision, I called my dad and asked him to come. He did immediately, and I've lived with him ever since. That was late November and early December of last year (2007).
Ever since I left Mom's house, both she and my brother have been nothing but angry and bitter towards me, showing me the same hate that I recognize as the hate they have towards Dad. My brother still has me blocked on facebook. But all of a sudden, out of the blue - my mom friend-requests me. Of course I accepted; I've been longing for communication with her since I moved out of her house. The problem now is I don't know what to say to her. I want to message her, but I can't find the right words without sounding like a stuttering broken record. Trust me, I've tried over the phone. Also, part of me is scared - every time I've talked to her since December has left me in tears. Most recently, she told me to never tell her I love her again. So, I'm not sure what to do, and I'm afraid that not doing anything will seem like not caring.
Anyway, to sum all of this up - I hope that this gesture from Mom is a possible foreshadower to forgiveness. I hope that one day, I will be able to spend time with everyone in my family, not only one side or the other. I hope that one day, I can say, "I love you," and she will hear the depth of meaning behind it instead of thinking it's spite or hate.
I love you, Mom. And I'm sorry.