Dear Carolyn: My mom passed away unexpectedly in October. One of my siblings (we are all adults with children) caused a lot of drama in the aftermath, during the funeral, and said hurtful things to me and the other sibling.
We are both taking a long-overdue break from our toxic sibling while we are both deeply grieving our mother. Family members and several of our sibling’s friends keep reaching out to ask us to “make amends.” I don’t share the details because I’m good with my decision to step away, but I don’t know what to say to people without sounding defensive. It’s such a painful time, and I’m frankly annoyed that it keeps coming up.
