2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #2 discussion

Sam’s mother Brenda makes several attempts to reach out to her but she rejects each. Do you understand her point of view? Is she being unreasonable, justified or somewhere in between?

Sam is still hurt by her mother. I have a friend whose mother walked out on her and their family. It was hard for them to let her mother back in, and she was never close to her. It is hard for a child to understand any kind of abandonment, mother or father.

Sam is a daddy's girl, so her reactions are understandable. She also resents her mother for cheating and abandoning her.

Sam was still pretty young when she left and didn't understand all the dynamics going on at the time. She chose her Dad and has doubled down on that choice ever since, refusing to even consider that there was another side.

Brenda not only walked away from the marriage but her daughter, too, at a critical time in her development. While Sam talks about her cheating on Skip, deep down she’s hurt from being abandoned. It takes two to end a marriage and Skip was no saint. Sam shouldn’t take sides there but I believe it’s easier for her to do that than be truthful about what’s really going on inside.

Jonetta wrote: "Sam shouldn’t take sides there but I believe it’s easier for her to do that than be truthful about what’s really going on inside."

It takes two to tango, but it is much easier to take the side of the parent who stays than the parent who leaves and has virtually no contact.

Brenda divorced her husband which I understand. But I hate that she just left her daughter and didn't keep in contact with her. I can understand Sam finding it hard to forgive her.