Today is my daughter's 27th birthday. And I want to talk about something that most people don't realize about narcissistic abuse when it involves children — it doesn't stop when they turn 18.

I grew up in a narcissistic household. Birthdays weren't celebrated. Holidays came and went. And then I got married — and it was the exact same pattern. There was always a reason. Always too busy. Always a woulda, coulda, shoulda.

You learn not to expect it. But you never stop hoping.

Now I'm watching my daughter go through the same thing at 27. And that is what this episode is about. The narcissistic parent who performs devotion for the world while their child lives a completely different reality. The way that child gets replaced by new supply. And the hope that never fully dies — no matter how many times they don't show up.

That hope is not a weakness. That is what narcissistic abuse does to someone who loves.

This is why I wrote When Love Becomes Leverage.

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