Pictures...

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#1 Feb 28 - 8AM
justicejones
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Pictures...

Ok, so I am pretty far along with my recovery, thanks to our very own little version here of NarcAholics Anonymous!

I do have a little conflict going on inside of me...as some of you know, my xhn left me and my boys almost five years ago. Wow, it seems like just yesterday. He, nor his family (parents) have taken absolutely no interest in our children...no cards, letters, gifts, child support; nothing! I have sent updates and pictures to his family with no response. I will be in So Cali next week on a surprise vacation with my boys and even fb messaged the N's mother about meeting someplace to visit the boys--she didn't respond and even blocked me. That's okay, I am over that now.

My question is this...I have tons of pictures of my ex and his family, even of him as a child. I have our wedding album and even VERY LARGE prints of us on our wedding day just sitting in a closet. I am thinking of just tossing them all. I prefer not to have them around. I don't have much emotional connection to them. At one time, I used to stare at them and reminisce about "the good old days," yeah right...but not any more. It kind of hurts my new guy, who is amazing btw, that I have them still hanging around. He knows how horrible the N was to me and our boys.
My boys don't really have any emotional tie to their father at all and don't care...but I wonder if I should keep the pictures for them. I would prefer to throw them out so we all have a clean break from his memory. What do you all think?

Feb 28 - 1PM
michele115 (not verified)
Anonymous's picture

RE: Pictures

I think you should put them in a box and save them and when your boys are adults, let them make the decision. I am confident that he will still be a Narc...but pictures regardless hold a sentimental value...even if the purpose later in this journey is for your boys to have thier own picture burning ceremony. Let your boys make the decision. If they mean nothing to you...then the pics sitting in a box should have no effect. That's my two cents.
Feb 28 - 4PM (Reply to #11)
justicejones
justicejones's picture

I definately think I ought to

I definately think I ought to take all your good advice and keep them somewhere away. The boys can decide to do what they want with them...a good two cents, michele.
Feb 28 - 1PM (Reply to #7)
michele115 (not verified)
Anonymous's picture

Re: Pictures II

I also want to add...it is common that when a parent is absent, children tend to fantasize. Your kids are young. Assuming that you are not going to badmouth thier father...even though WE know what he is...it still hurts kids. Kids want their parents and yearn for them. Your children will have issues on general principal just because of the rejection that thier father is engaged in because HE IS A DISORDER!!! That being the case, you have to work doubly hard to re-assure them and shore them up. These types of abandonment scars run deep. I understand you can't control this and it is healthier for all concerned and I would NEVER suggest you go out of your way to foster a relationship...but it is tricky finding that fine line... What is most important for you is that you never appear to be sabotaging...that you are always "neutral" so that your kids can never throw in YOUR face that the lack of contact was due to anything YOU DID or didn't do... These types will show up 20 years later with a sob story completely having re-written history. My father passed away, but his family had nothing to do with me until I was of age...then of course I was just everyone's darling...and yes, because I yearned for it MY WHOLE LIFE I ate it up... AND one day chickens came home to roost and they did something that triggered my feeling of rejection and my resentment and even though I have some issues with my mother in other areas...the ONE WISE thing she did was NEVER say anything bad about them...THEY tried to say something bad about my mother something like she stopped me from seeing them, and that is why they didn't have a relationship with me, and that she "abused" me blah blah blah and that is when the lion in me came out and I set the story straight...AND turned the tables and asked: Well if you thought I was soooooo abused, why didn't ANY of you step in?...**Crickets*** SO MOM...you want to be in a position where your kids will defend you, stand up for you and appreciate and SEE all the reasons why things are the way they are and if you are able to do it as close to right as possible, even if the locusts come 20 years from now...they'll have your back and won't anybody be able to say a darn thing about you...
Feb 28 - 4PM (Reply to #8)
justicejones
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Michele regarding Pictures 2

I don't think I have to really worry about this. I did let it consume me at one time. Always trying to keep the door open to his disordered family...sending cards and updates as well as my phone number to them, so they could have contact, worried that some day they would come back to my boys as adults, saying I kept them from seeing our boys. They never have even tried. My exhusband narc obviously has his own family completely brain washed. There were times he was arrested for hurting me, but of course he would call his mother from jail telling her that it had been me who threw him in...generally it would be a neighbor after I may have dragged myself over to their home for help. No, I am in no way gonna let a man who #1 would watch pornography in front of our oldest son, #2 leave the baby and also that same child as a toddler home alone to go buy a beer, #3 took our children on drug deals, even hiding the meth in the car seat with the baby in a blanket, #4 threw me in front of a car and slammed my head into the concrete while drunk, when I was pregnant, #5 chased me with a screwdriver through a courtyard while I was pregnant, #6 had two other children with the new OW taken away and put into protective services...have ANY CONTACT WITH OUR CHILDREN. The judge in the divorce even granted him NO PARENTING TIME. He is a danger to the well being of our kids. The last time he was up here in jail for criminal non support, he wrote me letters telling me how much he wanted me and the kids back, like nothing had ever transpired. Mind you, the whole four years he was gone, he never even said as much as "boo" to our boys. Anyway I told him that if he wanted to have a relationship with our boys, he would have to earn it. He would have to get clean and stay clean, get a job, pay his support, and get his act together. Of course he would say that all that stuff was happening right then, that he was changed and doing all those things...of course, so narcissistic. I told him he could start out by sending them cards and letters, and could call to talk to them. Well whenever he would call, he would say a couple of words to them, then want to talk to me...trying to hoover me back in. Of course the boys didn't have much to say to him cause he virtually was a stranger. He called a total of three times while he was up here for two and a half months. He told me, "this isn't working out, calling them. I need to see them." I said that he had to earn that by being consistent, then he could earn supervised visitation. He said he wouldn't do that unless I was the one supervising. Hmmmmm. Don't think so. I let them see their dad two times. He promised to buy them this and that, but guess what? All his cards were declined at the cash register. Then they saw him throwing a tantrum on the phone to his mother when she wouldn't send him any money when he got out of jail. They both just looked at me like, "this is my dad?" After that, they didn't want me to take them to see him again. What pissed me off is that our son was sick deathly with pneumonia in the hospital and when I called to tell him this, he didn't say anything about it except he was bummed his backpack was stolen from the bus stop!!! I think my boys know what kind of person the ex is without me telling them. They know who has been there for them through thick and thin. My oldest remembers the things he would do and sometimes mentions it and says that he is glad his dad is gone. I always would just tell them that "daddy isn't making some good choices for his life and to pray for him, and love him anyway." They have both gone to some counseling and their counselor say that they are really well adjusted, normal kids. They have my fiance who has been like their dad for the last two years now, and he has great character and love for them...he wants to adopt them eventually. I think despite it all, they have dealt with their dad leaving much better than I have...
Feb 28 - 5PM (Reply to #9)
michele115 (not verified)
Anonymous's picture

Well in light of all of that...

no pun intended... Burn 'em!
Feb 28 - 5PM (Reply to #10)
justicejones
justicejones's picture

Ha ha! You are great!

Ha ha! You are great!
Feb 28 - 10AM
titta22
titta22's picture

justicejones

Sorry but i burned the ones i took with him at the begining of the relationship and all the cards i gave him and maybe 2 he gave me in 8yrs of marriage. I felt great afterwards. But that's not for everyone so do what feels right to for you.
Feb 28 - 11AM (Reply to #5)
spinning
spinning's picture

titta...I'm with you, finally...

after suffering great loss when I came home last evening for the first time in more than a week I found the strength at long last to burn the photos I took and framed of the disordered one. I had previously hidden them. Now they're gone for good. It's been something I've wanted to do but had previously hesitated. The loss of my family member provided the gift of strength I needed. He would have been appalled at the treatment I endured from the pshcyo I let into my life. It felt good watching the smoke and flames... Sincerely (still trying to stop) spinning

spinning

Feb 28 - 8AM
Happy1
Happy1's picture

you do what you think is

you do what you think is best. You could always box them and put them in the basement or attic if you want the kids to have them someday.
Feb 28 - 8AM
ABC0311
ABC0311's picture

Keep some, get rid of the big ones

You could keep some for your kids if they become interested in them at some later time. But I'd definitely get rid of the big ones... those are too in-your-face. The little ones can be hidden away in a box.
Feb 28 - 8AM
Hunter
Hunter's picture

Photos

I wouldnt toss them! Hide them away, once they are gone you can't get them back. Maybe one day your boys will want them or even need them for closure! Tossing the photos Is not Ideal! Idealk