‘Why Won’t My Siblings Help Care for Our Sick Mom?’

This week’s caller says that she resents her family for making her be the “good” child. Their mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after their father was diagnosed with cancer, and of the three children in the family, she was the only child who showed up to help out. “Sometimes I feel like siblings can check out in different ways,” the caller says. “I want to honor their reasons for doing so but I find that it still hurts to feel alone.” The caller’s family tends to avoid conflict, so she doesn’t know how to address the feeling that her siblings abandoned her. How can she avoid being consumed by bitterness or resentment?

On top of all that, as the youngest of three raised in a midwestern Catholic family, she has never been fully accepted by her sister or her mother for being gay. “Leave your sister and the geometry of the family aside for a moment and focus on what you need from your mother,” Esther Perel suggests. Ultimately, the caller realizes she wants to feel seen and heard by her mother before she dies.

Mondays are tough, so let’s start with a feel-good video from our friends at the Dodo. Next, we encourage you to get ready for our collective Summer of Shrimp. Dobbs had the opposite effect conservatives intended, with Americans seeking abortions more than ever. In our day, smelly boys carried clouds of Axe or Old Spice around with them. Not anymore. Chet Hanks got his dad caught up on the Drake-Kendrick feud. Weird flavor combos like mac ’n’ cheese ice cream and gravy-flavored soda aren’t just marketing gimmicks anymore; they’re the new normal. Target is cutting prices. And take a look inside Caitlin Clark’s first game in New York.

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