Me again, with the mum.
It's tough, cuz I have a younger sister, significantly younger enough to not really have known/understood what was going on when I was going through it, and she is of the personality to totally fit in and go with the program, so my parents never had a "problem" with her (so she never was sent away to one of these mindrape mills). I think my sister and my mum are of the mind that I am but one hopeless mess, to be tolerated for the sake of the one heir to the family name (my son), but hopeless nonetheless. No, I can't talk to my sister about this. She has a successful career as an assistant professor at a prestigous university, and has never been very sympathetic to me, even as a child. My dad, who was a good and well-meaning sort, passed away several years ago.
At some point I finally got to the point where I have almost pretty much forgiven my mum. Life is too short, and she is in her 70's. I would never ever treat my son the way she treated me (corporal punishment, etc.), and I would never ever put him through what I went through in my teenage years. But then, I have always identified more with the underdog and the nonconformist, even as a youngster. Perhaps it is this important truth that I must pass on, to maintain an open and critical mind and independent spirit, that would not reach my son save through me and what I have experienced, and perhaps that will make it more liveable for me...
