Great piece. The whole "you must forgive and love your family unconditionally because they're your family" thing needs to die, IMO. Just because someone shares DNA with you doesn't mean they are more entitled to your respect.

And this is coming from someone who absolutely adores her mother. I was lucky to be blessed with amazing parents, but I see people almost every day who were not, yet still cling to their toxic family members. Maybe it's because I know what a healthy parent-child relationship looks like, and when I see someone clinging to a toxic one, I want to scream at them get away already, that it's not right.

Many parents are not fit to parent. If it were up to me, people should "earn" the right to parent, but that's a complicated discussion for another time ;) For now, all I wish is that more parents realize that the person they gave life to is their own person, that they're not entitled to that person the same way they're not entitled to know their neighbour's business.