Today I received a burst of pure unconditional support from a source I would never have expected it from a few years back, and it was so generous and illustrative of what I've not been getting it made me cry.
What it reminded me was that there's always the option of kindness and that anyone who's so insistent on you fulfilling certain expectations to receive it without applying the same rulebook to themselves will only let you down. If someone finds new ways to astound and upset you with alarming regularity, then you've already been warned. And the reason you didn't get the message was it should go without saying, and if you have to say it then it's best to not expect anything else.
The point I'm learning is I've never been respected from certain quarters and if the current context wasn't enough to make them instinctively lend a hand, they never will. Their hold over everything is more vital than anyone else's, regardless of whether their attitude deserves it, and if that's the starting point, it's the endpoint too. So now it's about giving one last chance while also preparing to write them out of my life if they continue what they're doing as, this time they took a terrible situation and multiplied it by ten, and that's unthinkable, really.
For tomorrow's life lesson, I'll teach you how to whittle a basket from scratch - don't worry, it's all part of the cost of admission.