But they make both of us deeply unhappy. My sister looks up to me and is waiting to see whether I'll be maintaining minimal contact with them or not. I can't decide whether to keep in touch with them. All in all, I don't know what to do. Done Being a Daughter Dear Done, Disowning your parents seems unnecessarily dramatic.
Family members harass each other all the time, in some sense.
If Mom and Dad are out of hand and behaving badly, then you don't need to be in touch with them, but I don't see why you should go to great ends to keep them from contacting you. It sounds as if you've escaped from a lousy situation in pretty good shape, so thank your lucky stars and strike out on your own and do what you can for your sister and let your miserable parents be. See how they behave in the next year or two, now that you're independent. No need to sentimentalize them and wrap them in ribbons, but heck, they're your parents. Dear Mr. Blue, A handful of years ago, I met a quirky, sweet, intelligent man and we had an affair.