Do your parents love each other? Do you think it affect your life?

[Crazzyyworld]

[ɹǝʇʇɐɥpɐW]

My mom loved my dad. When he had an affair, she developed severe depression and was bedridden for years. When she died from cancer, one of the last conversations I had with her, while she was still present and aware, was to make me promise that I wouldn't leave him alone after she died. That I would make the time to visit him often and make sure he was ok.

I don't think my dad loved my mom. Shortly after I was born, he got into a car accident that put him a coma. My mom tells me his personality completely changed after this. He was short-tempered and while he provided for our family, he was never really emotionally present. Or physically present, for several years. Aside from the affair, he'd also beat my mom, though only once. When she was dying of cancer, bedridden, hallucinating, with no idea where she was or what was happening, he had invited people to visit and see her. This was against her wishes, as she had made clear that if she were ever in that condition, she would be humiliated to be seen that way. I had to confront him about that and put a stop to it. And when she was so bad she could barely move or speak, her wishes had been to be allowed to die. My father said that choice wasn't up to her. She was his wife, so it was his decision, and she was just being lazy. She wasn't trying hard to recover. Again, I had to confront him and get him to let her go. She had nothing left resembling a life. Whether he was holding on because he actually cared for her, in his own way, or if he just viewed her as property and didn't want to lose that control, I don't know for sure.

But I know that their relationship affected my life. While my father was out of the country spending money on other women, I was 10 years old alone in the house with my mom who was starving herself in bed. That lasted for about 5 years. And when my dad came back, having blown most of the money he earned from working abroad, leaving us in a poverty that they never recovered from, I was the one my mom went to when she needed to vent her frustrations and cry. The one she'd tell that she had suicidal thoughts and feared she'd go to hell because she hated the women my father cheated on her with. Hated the life she had. Hated the mother she'd been.

Anyway, it made for a tougher childhood and I'm sure that's had a lot to do with who I am as an adult.

[avery58]

They're still married after nearly 40 years but no, not really. That kind of romance often dies down in relationships, marriage is more a partnership I think.

[Apple1996]

Yes my parents have always been the type to be all over eachother and lovey. They definitely showed me what true love looks like

[Account]

Yes and yes.

Knowing me, I would have possibly been a very different person if I was not raised by good parents.

[MemeSupreme]

nope and yes

bc it literally reflected in their actions and that caused issues lol

[FunkyMonkee]

Not anymore, they're both dead.

[LiamJHayden]

They did. It has shown me what to expect.