After a false accusation, aunt now wants to move on
Dear Amy: A while back, an heirloom necklace of mine went missing.
The only person to visit me recently had been my adult niece. I asked my niece why she took my necklace, and told her to return it immediately.
My niece kept denying she had even seen my necklace. I was furious with her for lying to me.
I went to the police and pressed charges against her for stealing. A few weeks later I found my necklace in the pocket of a coat I had forgotten about.
I had wrongfully accused my niece of stealing from me and had pressed charges against her!
I'm ashamed to admit that I also insulted her as a parent, her young children and blasted her on several social media sites during those weeks.
We live in a small tight-knit community, so word traveled quickly. I was told by another family member that my niece told them she could not even go to the store now without getting dirty looks.
I have, of course, dropped all charges against her and told her I made a mistake. I said, "Let's put this ugly incident behind us and forget it happened."
My niece will not speak to me! Her husband told me that my accusations have caused my niece a great deal of anxiety and she's been sleeping poorly, and having migraines because of what happened.
I just want everything back to how it was before all of this. A close friend suggested that since I publicly humiliated my niece, a public apology would be a good place to start.
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