I turned 20 today, or I guess yesterday since it’s 2 am here. My father and his wofe sang ”happy birthday” to me when I woke up and many of my relatives wished me happy birthday as well. I am deppressed and haven’t seen any of my friends in months, and I just visited my family. I wanted to party with my friends and have fun, but it wasn’t possible.
The day was alright. I knew I wasn’t going to be partying, so I just lived my life and enjoyed the day to the fullest. I am a person who doesn’t feel like other people should bend over backwards for me just because it’s my birthday, so I was alright. I think in the back of my head I still hoped for more though. I didn’t get a gift from anyone other than my oldest brother who sent me money. I didn’t have any type of celebration.
As I said, I’m fine with people not spending their whole day catering to me because of my birthday, so I’m not mad at anyone. I think I just hoped my 20th would’ve been more exciting.
This was not why I cried though. I am not going to tell my entire childhood simply because it would be very long (I am still open to questions about it if you have any). What I will say is that I have always had to ”take care” of my father. I would settle his arguments with his partners. I would clean up after him and make sure he was okay at all times. Only about three years ago I got rid of my habit of not being able to fall asleep before I heard my father sleeping, just to make sure he’s safe and sleeping in bed.
So, because I am at my fathers place, I started to take care of him, since it’s been in me since forever. I drank wine alone and started cleaning up his side of the bedroom (I was sleeping in my fathers and his wifes bedroom because of their puppy). Eventually his wife came in and yelled at me for making noise while I was cleaning.
I’m not mad at her at all. Everybody would be angry if they woke up in the middle of the night to someone making unnecessary noise. She’s awesome, and I know I’m not the sweetest person either of I’m woken up suddenly. Her scolding was just the thing that tipped it all over. I started crying because of everything that happened. I cried because of the fact that after years I still feel the need to clean up after him. I cried because I turned twenty and nobody around me treated it as big as how I felt about it. I cried because of how I have become a recluse because of my deppression and anxiety. I cried about how I created harm to an innocent person just because I just had to take care of my father.
I can’t sleep right now because I’m scared my father will be angry at his wife, because she did nothing wrong. I am so scared because in my dad’s previous relationships I have been the mediator and ”relationship therapist”. It scares me that because of my mistake my father would get mad at his wife. He should not be in a relationship, because he is not very good to the women he dates. This relationship seems to be the best he’s ever been in though, so it kills me that I might be the reason for conflict between them. Right now I am thinking of ways I could talk about this to him in the morning so he won’t take it out on her for having a human reaction.
I love my father, but he is not a person anybody should look up to. I guess all of these combined just made me sad, and being yelled at broke the camel’s back.
I feel sad right now, because i didn’t get the birthday I wanted. However, I am now old enough to look back and now that I’m 20, everything feels extra bad. I feel bad for six-year-old me, who cleaned up my dads beer cans in the morning. I feel bad for the 7 year old me who had to force my dad to bed so I could sleep. I hate the fact that 8-11yo me was scared because I couldn’t be with my dad that much because I couldn’t be there so much as before to make sure he’s ok. I also hate the fact that since I was 12-year-old I have been trying my hardest to make sure my dads relationships will stay afloat. I know what kind of person my father is but I love him. I just want to change him to be a better partner and to live happily with his wife. I’m scared for his wofe because she’s amazing and my father is…not.
I am just sad that this is still active today. I don’t even notice it when I clean up his space or put warm socks on him so he won’t get cold. I wake him up from naps so he doesn’t sleep so long that he won’t sleep at night. I can’t stop though, because as long as I’ve lived my job has been to take care of everyone else, especially my father. Although I know it’s not good, I lowk wish I could live close to my dad so I could settle their arguments.
I’m so sorry this vent is all over the place, but so are my thoughts. I know tomorrow I will make sure my father won’t get mad at his wife because of me making noise. I will also have to apologise to his wife. I just want to be a child, and maybe that’s why I always end up in the tou section. Maybe one day I will have the money to buy the stuff I want.
If you read all this, thank you so much even though it must’ve been very confusing at times. If you have any questions or thoughts comment them! I am very ready to talk about all this, and I will say if I don’t to answer something.