Mother with narcissistic tendencies
My mother has always been lowkey mean, for the most part I brush it off and go low contact for a bit. But with my wedding coming up in 2 months, it’s getting increasingly harder to navigate. My little brother started college and moved out and ever since then, she’s been bugging me nonstop. Passive aggressively complaining about how I don’t respond to her texts immediately while I’m at work, saying she’s just going to stop reaching out to me and no one would know if something happened to her because no one’s around anymore. My biggest issue with her has been my weight. I decided I wasn’t happy with how I looked last year and decided to finally do something about it. It’s been a little over a year and I’ve lost a substantial amount of weight. I’m not unhealthy by any means. Now every chance she gets, she’s calling me “skin and bones,” “incredibly bony,” “gaunt,” “corpse like.” I am 5’9” and weigh 145! How is that corpse like?! The comments just wouldn’t stop. Finally I had enough and said something to her. I sent her a text the next morning saying “I’ve been thinking about it and I really don’t appreciate your comments about my weight. I’ve worked very hard and I’m proud of the progress I’ve made. I’m not unhealthy but you keep implying there’s something wrong with me when there’s not. Please keep your comments about my weight to yourself.” She didn’t respond for a day and then finally got back to me with “I’m sorry you feel that way. I’m your mother and I just worry that you’re too thin and you’re never going to stop. It comes from a place of concern, I love you!” She lost me at “I’m sorry you feel that way,” quite honestly. But then she made it worse by following up with another text 15 minutes later that read “Moving forward, can you send me a list of topics I’m not allowed to discuss so I don’t get texts first thing in the morning reprimanding me? Thanks!” My only response was “You can’t ever just apologize, can you?” To which she said “Nope, but I love you!!” Unfortunately she is the only person who can watch our kids while we’re on our honeymoon. 😒 I’m obviously excited to get married but part of me is excited for the wedding just because that means I can back off from her for awhile. I have always gone out of my way to spend time with her, I value our relationship and at one point I considered her my best friend, but now I’m just ready to be done with it. It’s like my brother moving out just flipped this switch in her brain. Starting therapy really opened my eyes regarding the whole situation, honestly.
Just kind of venting. Open to words of encouragement or something? Not really sure, I needed to get that off my chest though.