"she still calls me everyday, says she loves me and I just have this feeling of emptiness when she says it.. how can I not say I love you too?? This is my mother we are talking about.. ugh."----I love my alcoholic mom and deceased father too....helping ourselves, taking care of ourselves, protecting ourselves and seperating ourselves from the active chaos of alcoholism
is not the absence of love! You love your parent
so much that you are
not willing to sacrifice your own well being to this disease. You are not "loving" your parent by sacrificing yourself or your sanity. To quote The Promises: "With dignity we will stand for ourselves, but not against our fellows." Try not to beat yourself up for making healthy choices
for you.
Heres a link:
The Promises for Adult Children
The
easiest thing to do is keep coming back to SR and learn from the wonderful people here.