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Post Info TOPIC: He's STILL in jail - how to deal with others enabiling!!!


~*Service Worker*~

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He's STILL in jail - how to deal with others enabiling!!!


A is still in jail, been there since the 1st.  Pretty sad when there's not a soul in the world who will give you $100 and vouch for you.  Job was lost yesterday (he can't even get anyone to pick up his check and bail him out with his own money).  MIL called to ask me to do it and I said no so now she's mad at me or maybe just frustrated with the situation.  Found out last night she called my 20 yo neice (actually his neice) to ask her (kinda made me mad).  Neice called me immediately and was disgusted and said (I found this amusing) if he had ever been nice to me when I was younger I might have done it...and then I asked her if she would bail me out if I ever needed it and she said of course.  LOL  I thought that was funny considering he's her blood and I'm not.  She started laying out all the f'd up things he had said/done to her over time.

As far as MIL, I wish she would just let it go!  I'm scared now she will bail him out and where do you all suppose he'll end up?  Lets see last time he got out he broke into my house while I was gone and stole money from me.  So I'm nervous and contemplating telling her that if she gets him out I will never speak to her again and mean it!  We are normally good friends.  My perspective here is #1 job is already lost so that's no reason to get him out, #2 he probably doesn't have anywhere to stay and it's freezing cold here now, #3 He brought this upon himself and I'm sick of her trying to rescue him like he's 5 years old - he's 40 for gods sake!

So the question IS>>>  How do you deal with other people's enabling when it directly affects you?  i.e. him showing up on MY doorstep not hers!!!!



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~*Service Worker*~

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Well I am sure he is going to get out at some time whether it be OR or whatever. He seems to be pretty resourceful in getting jobs.  I am not sure what's happened to his sponsor I guess they have gone by the wayside. 

I know I have been totally over involved with the A and his family. I used to have a total over investment in what his mother "should" do.  His mother totally enabled him for a long time whenever we had an argument he would run over there and she would say it was all "me".  The  irony is that his mother has now moved a couple of states away so that is not an option anymore. 

I know I didn't speak to the A's mother for years.  I don't think that helped any.  I just came off as a total bitch.  I think very very very few people (maybe the people in this room) understand what it is to live with an A.

I can imagine its hard for you to deal with this chaos the A creates around you.  I can also imagine its very easy to get pulled into it.  I have to keep naming the double binds the A puts me in and try to stay out of them. He'll have fights with certain people then put me in the middle.  I have to be willing to step out of it. I have never been willing before. I was always trying to control.  The extent of my trying to control is just becoming apparent to me.

These days I have had to be willing to stop trying to control and enter the chaos the A creates. I think that's diffcult because I always had the feeling if I was "in" there at least I would know what was coming.  I found it didn't make that much difference. These days I just focus on me and my resources and my issues and I deal with whatever the A creates as it comes up. I don't try to interrupt it. I may make a suggestion or two to him but that's it.  I think its very very very difficult to step aside and not get into it nevertheless it is a recipe for not getting to the point of being totally exhausted, resentful and delivering ultimatums to all the people around him. 

Maresie.

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maresie


~*Service Worker*~

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(((((((CG)))))))),

It's your MIL's choice to bail him out or not.  That may be part of her illness.  As for him coming home to you without your permission, I would contact the police and ask them your options.  Perhaps they can drive by the house more often.  If you feel your safety is threatened or your children's well being is, ask about an order of protection.  Call the police and discuss it with them.  Call the local crime victims association and see if they have any ideas or where they can refer you to.

Your first priority is to the well being and safety of you and your children.  My sister in so many ways enables her husband.  She is in denial of what is going on.  But I can't make her see it.  So all I can do is step back and let her do what she does.  It breaks my heart, but it's her life.  All I can do is take care of me.

Love and blessings to you and your family.

Live strong,
Karilynn & Pipers Kitty

P.S.  It's freezing here too!  Stay warm.


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It's your life. Take no prisoners. You will have it your way.
QOD


~*Service Worker*~

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If and when he shows up - CALL THE POLICE!  Tell them whatever you have to in order to get them to show up.  He is acting like a crazed lunatic, you are scared for your life, whatever.  Have him hauled off again and again and again....do have a restraining order???  Here in VA, it is not called a restraining order - something else but I can't remember what - but you get the point......if you get one of those in place, then having him hauled off is easier.  Of course, getting one of those can be difficult....I checked into it last summer.  There has to be certain circumstances in place in order to have it filed.  I wasn't able to file one b/c of the lack of these certain circumstances......but check in to it.

Good luck with it all....we are here for you.  Keep your chin up.

Sincerely,
QOD

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QOD



~*Service Worker*~

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 This actually did happen to me, similar situation. I noticed when I was still living with my father that he was stealing my meds, specifically the kinds that are used for my migranes. Now, given that things generally in my household are bizarre and left me with the sensation of "It must be me; I must be crazy" my first inclination was to blame myself. Of course my father couldn't be stealing my meds I reasoned; he would never do that, sink that low. Well, what happened was that, indeed, he had gone to the pharmacy, and told an extremely tall tale to the pharmacist, saying how I had been bedridden with a migrane for an extensive period of time, too weak and in too much pain to go to a doctor, the pharmacy, the hospital, and too stubborn to take his advice; would they please just fill a script for some migrane meds and give it to him, to bring to me, to make me a little more bearable to live with? Imagine my surprise then, not even a week later, when I had a real doozy of a migrane, the kind that actually does leave you bed ridden, and the pharmacist had actually filled the script said "I can't give you anymore. You've already gotten a new pack. Your dad picked it up. I meant to talk to you about that because your file is marked 'restricted access,' but your dad picked up your meds." Ooopsy! After that, the pharmacist made it known only to his associate and to one other staff member that I was no longer enabling my father and, ahem, I handle my own meds, Thanks.
 This also happened with a doctor who happens to also see my father. After this specific incedent, the pharmacist was obliged to call the doctor who over saw the perscription. Of course, I made an appt asap to see this doctor; apparently, this doctor, too, had been duped. My father, great con artist that he is, had persuaded the doctor about the severity of my migranes, the symptoms, et cetera, and some how the meds just flowed right into Dad's hands. Again, notations were made, and ahem, people were informed. 
 And the list has gone on and on. People dad works with. People dad is friends with. People dad hangs around with. Over and over and over again, I've told these stories, related what he's like behind closed doors, even showed them my bruises and bank statements; but no dice. They see the Dad they want to see, and they don't what they don't.
 My point is this: whether the enablers are knowing or unknowing, the key is what is believed. I've finally come to realize that there is great truth in the statement "A length of rope is of great use for two things: pulling oneself out of a hole, and hanging oneself by its length." The reality was that until Dad set himself up his unwitting suppliers didn't believe me; when he was exposed, he was cut off. I think that's the same thing here too, sadly, CG. As much as your MIL knows the truth, as long as she doesn't believe it, it's okay; he's stil her baby. That goes for the rest of the family. And QOD is right, too; given the dangerous history this guy's had with you, if he shows up, call the police. You have a right to feel safe in your house.
 It's okay that you feel like you're losing your mind. It's also okay that you feel like no one believes you and you feel isolated. I'm coming to see, more and more, that it wasn't that anyone didn't believe me at all; in fact, at the meetings dad frequents, people have come up to me at other meetings and said things like "are you okay?" "do you want to talk?" "do you have my number, just in case?" In other words, they know; they get it. They're under no illusions about who dad is.
 I'm glad you shared this with us. Keep us posted.



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