“No,” I replied. “I’m accepting your definition of family.”
I did not completely cut them off.
Dad would never have wanted me to become cruel just because they had been cruel to me.
So I still approved genuine necessities.
Medical expenses.
Necessary home repairs.
Basic needs.
What I stopped approving were vanity expenses, hidden debts, and every request delivered as though my money automatically belonged to them.
A month later, the birthday photographs arrived.
The official portrait showed Mom surrounded by her blood relatives.
Every one of them was smiling
