Reply #22: Thanks for the support and kind words. [View All]

[Rhiannon12866]

I agree that this has been going on for far too long, but it's still tough when it's your mother. We're all brought up to believe and conditioned to think that your parents are not only wiser than we are but are always in our corner. So it's a struggle, no matter what your age, to let go of this.:-(

And my mother, because she's of an earlier generation, believes in the infallibility of parents. She somehow thinks that the word "matriarch" will automatically evoke respect from me, and I'm sure that she's frustrated when it has just the opposite effect. I now see it as her bid for control.:-(

One thing that she's constantly saying, with all the recent news stories that are coming to light, is that all the child abuse that we're hearing about just didn't take place in her day. I don't believe it and I keep telling her that they just didn't hear about it. She drives me batty with her contention that things were so much "better" in "her day." Yikes! We grew up to believe that it doesn't solve anything just to sweep things under the rug!
:wow:

And I think that one of her key issues with me is embarrassment. She's "embarrassed" at my politics and also that I speak out. I went on for way too long believing that my family was completely normal. But I now know that the way they behave is just not acceptable and I'm done pretending otherwise. If that embarrasses her, then she and my brother will just have to make changes or live with it. I am trying not to be manipulated, but old habits die hard.:shrug:

Thanks for the support and the hug!:hug: