My guess is that the authors are a couple of 13 year old girls.

I hope someone has warned the wife-to-be that if Zodiakleo sweetykins is that comfy being abusive to strangers, he will have zero problem being abusive to her. It's not too late to run like hell, sister.

And a monogrammed thermos?

All I could think was, "Please don't leave your faces lying around."

Hugs to you! My family was the same way. No validation to be found there, and not because they were particularly Team Mom. My aunts, uncles and cousins viewed us all as the misfits, so they didn't really care. They lived for the delicious schadenfreude when mom or I would fuck up.

Damn, I'm so sorry for what you went through!! All the hugs!! Extra love To you, too. My mom never had us going without food and proper clothing. The things we did without were invisible - affection, praise, comfort when we were sad, that kind of thing. She didn't get them, either, so I now understand why she didn't…

I have always wanted to be able to confront these people, as an adult, and ask them why it was so easy to dismiss my side of the story. But I don't know their names, and some of them are probably dead by now anyway. I don't know if it was because my mom was not only charming, but beautiful (she really was); did they…

My friend wasn't sketchy, just her home life. Her father was a scary mofo. He got off on making me uneasy (or downright scaring me). When he smiled, he looked to me like a hungry shark.

That's great! For those of us who were raised to believe that our parent(s) are infallible, it's liberating to leave that behind us and go a different way with our own kids. It's harder for them to grow up hating themselves if we let them learn that making mistakes doesn't make them bad people. In fact, owning up to…

I'm so sorry that you had to grow up in constant fear. I wish you peace, q-Tzal.

Yup. She's good, so good that I don't always believe her myself.

Hugs right backatcha, sister. <3 Our takeaway from all of this is to be better.

You don't have to say anything except, "No, you cannot come here ever again. Please leave." If he doesn't, call the police. Good luck, and I wish you peace.

I know you're not kidding. I believe you.

Oh, I'm sure they believed her. She is very good at coming off as the victim or the good guy. People love her, but she doesn't have any real, close friends. Just acquaintances that she has charmed. She's not a bad person, per se. She just has a warped view of reality.

All my hugs to you, sweetheart. You owe him NOTHING. He betrayed you in every way, and he sounds like an unstable, dangerous person. I hope you find the strength to believe that you owe him nothing.

That's my mother-in-law.

Hugs right back to you, and thanks to all for the support. :) I was also diagnosed with PTSD when I finally got myself to therapy, and I was as shocked as you were. I felt the same way you did; I knew people who had suffered physical and sexual abuse, so compared to them, I felt bad for complaining at all. I don't…

My mother was never physically abusive. Verbally and emotionally abusive was her thing. There are so many stories I could tell, but the one that really sticks out (and showcases her ability to bamboozle outsiders into believing her to be a saint) is my go-to story:

That reminded me of Marie Barone on Everbody Loves Raymond.