My situation is a little different from most on here in that I confronted my mother and she eventually took responsibility for her actions. Sort of. She understands that she was neglected and that she never really learned how to nurture, so she passed on generational trauma. She gets it. She doesn't exactly connect with it, though. She doesn't care enough to make any real changes, and the dynamic is super, super shitty.

She understands she was abused. She understands she abused me. She grew up depressed, and is still depressed. She is too depressed to do the work needed to change, which is a thing I understand. She needs help, and I'm the only person she hasn't fully shut out of her life. We're codependent and enmeshed. She's old, physically frail, and starting to show signs of memory loss.

Staying here to help her is keeping me stuck. Knowing what it feels like to be abandoned when you're helpless is what keeps me here. I don't know if I can forgive myself for doing to her what she did to me.

There's no closure. Sometimes I think it's worse, her understanding her role, feeling sorry about it, and not having the fortitude to do anything differently now.