Hello,

Alright…so this is out of interest.

My family is a nuthouse…and because of various family member’s and their toxic ways I have distanced myself from them. When I was 10 I chose to distance myself from my father’s family and several years ago I distanced myself from the few remaining people on my mother’s side. The reason I distanced myself from them is because some were heavy alcoholics, others were extremely deceptive to me, and others were abusive.

That leaves my mother, who is basically my best friend. I speak with my dad..but its now really frosty and difficult (We had a period where we found a way to have a mild relationship, however, that has subsided) I also have other family members in Germany, but they do not speak English and I do not speak German.

So now since you read that…I bet your thinking “what is wrong with this person?”

And I can understand why. Now that brings me to my question. I am finally starting to date. It’s been tough dealing with the process of evacuating these toxic personalities from my life…i’m 26 now and I am finally feeling like I am together and ready to date seriously.

So when I date a guy who does go back home to his family and has a relationship with his family….how do I handle that? What do I say when he asks me about my family? I don’t want my family’s standing in my life to cast a shadow on the person I am…because I am rather proud of myself for standing up in what I believe in and making such a hard choice. I’ve spend so many years just trying to pick up the pieces of my life and get myself mentally and emotionally together and I am the strongest I have ever been and way stronger than I would ever have been without these people and those experiences in my life.

What do I do to make sure my triumph is seen when/if someone I am dating asks me personal questions about my past and family?

Thank you in advance,
Samantha