CHRISTIAN PARENTS of ESTRANGED ADULT CHILDREN Community Group
Estrangement makes it difficult to talk about with family, friends, neighbors and church members. Christians are NOT immune to broken families. Talk about your experiences with those who know how you feel and get positive support through your Christian faith...."In these last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self...disobedient to parents,...
I still feel the sting if I think back to when my in-laws expressed disapproval of my husband or myself. It was very upsetting. So I can see it from the other side as well.
A DWI is serious, and I'm sure you never want a repeat of that experience. I just don't know if your daughter will hear the message if it comes from her Mom. You know what I mean? Perhaps if you book a coffee date or shopping time with her and keep the conversation light hearted and don't refer to the incident, things will smooth over. At another time, when your gut (the Holy Spirit) tells you the timing is right, you can voice loving concern. Meanwhile, her safety is in God's hands. You need to try to keep your mind from going down certain worry trails when you know she's out with the girls.
Our adult children face a lot of dangers we never had to face. We as parents face things our parents never had to face. My youngest daughter is a police officer in downtown Toronto, in a gang district. There are certain thoughts I can't allow my mind to entertain or I'd go nuts. As Moms, our prayer list is getting pretty long, right? :) Let us know how it goes.
PS - I come from a family of "make nice and sweep it under the rug" but my DH comes from a family of "address every elephant in the room at the dinner table and beat it to death until someone is angry or crying". I continue to "make nice" - after 25 years I cannot get used to their way.
Back when my ES was drinking a lot I phoned him around 6 pm to see if he wanted to go to dinner with me. He said he'd have to shower because he'd just woken up and had had a headache all day. It was a Saturday. I said that maybe he shouldn't drink so much on a Friday night so he wouldn't be hung over. That caught him off guard and I could tell he was surprised that I put 2 & 2 together so fast. I think our kids don't all realize that there is nothing new under the sun and we are old enough to have seen most of it. He isn't the defensive type so he just said "yeah". But now that you know what your daughter is up to poodlegirl you can react more nonchalantly if you hear about it again. For some reason I always feel better when our ECs stuff doesn't send me into a freak out. I still gave him my advice but I felt better that I didn't react when I got blindsided knowing he was hung over again.
They are married and adult and it's not your job to correct their behavior. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.
I always think it is the people that tell it like it is that are the ones who really care and the ones who pussy foot around just want to keep the peace at all costs. Remember one thing....if she gets in an accident and kills a car full of people you would not regret warning her....hearing the truth is sometimes hard and people get mad. BUT you mean well and deep down she knows this. You did good and exactly what any loving, caring human being would have done. ((hugs to you))