Dear Michelle:

From personal experience I am familiar with family dynamics such as you described. My input at this point, based on my experience and understanding of people, is the following:

His sisters have not been good sisters to your father and then, because of grief over his illness, they turned against you. Likely they were as cruel to him at times as they were to you. Looking at the title of your thread, his sisters probably treated him like an outsider as well.

The cruelty you described on the part of his sisters, and their persistence in it over the years, is not something that emerged out of nowhere. It’s been there for a long, long time.

There is much more in your post and your years long distress is significant. I don’t think my reply here is close to being adequate. But it is a beginning, and if you would like, we can continue to communicate here. Please let me know.

I will be back to the computer in about sixteen hours.

anita