No happy holiday when the family is facing conflict

Lesle Honore chatting with her female college friends at her home recently during a regular video call. For her, a sisterhood of friends has become her chosen family. Photo: TNS

Since the end of 2019, Arlette Martin has not spoken to her daughter, who lives less than a 10-minute drive from her. In that time, her only child missed celebrating Martin’s 50th birthday and Martin wasn’t invited to her daughter’s wedding.

“I’ve never spoken to my daughter, hugged or touched her since New Year’s Eve 2019,” said Martin, of Peru, Illinois, the United States.