Got an SOS email from my niece, K...I may be flying out east to attend the parents' day at her university since neither of her actual parents can seem to make the effort. I don't mind going but I DO mind how upset she is by the parental indifference (which, frankly, has been going on for years). She and her mom have a completely untenable relationship and her dad is living here now...which adds physical distance to the emotional distance that has been in place for years. For the past five or six years she has spent all her school holidays and breaks with me or my mom or my sister, which has really been nice for us...but I know it bothers K. not to have any sustained, normal relationship with her folks...I guess the other way to look at it is that things just are what they are...and at least she has had other family to rely on...

~~~

*sigh*

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