Not all of our mothers were wonderful.

[mnhtnbb]

22. Really.

My mother has been dead for almost 17 years now and I do not miss her. Most of the time I don't even think about
her. Strangely enough, like lunatica's mom (post #6) on kpete's thread https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9062280
she was also a UC Berkeley grad (1929) and a smart woman, but she
lacked kindness and empathy. Nothing I did was ever good enough, and when I achieved something I'd worked for
(but she didn't approve of as a goal) she would tell me that if I only spent as much time studying as I did "xxxx", I might make something of myself.
I hold a BS and MPH from UCLA (she never got a master's) and I ended up making more money in a year than she probably
made in her entire career as a French/Spanish teacher. So--according to her standards--I ended up doing ok for myself. Did I ever hear that from her?
Not a chance. So fuck you, mom. This is the woman who, when I came home from school and told her JFK had been assassinated said, "it's about time!" and 20 years later had a photo of Ronald Reagan hung on her kitchen wall. In high school, we were arguing about the Vietnam war one night at dinner and she threw the glass of milk she was drinking in my face for arguing with her. When I was in my 20's, she tried to dump a bowl of salad on my head one time when I was visiting with my first husband (whom she adored and publicly told everyone what a mistake I was making when I divorced him) over some minor thing that I disagreed with her about while we were fixing dinner.

Well, she's dead now and has been feeding the fish for a very long time. I did my best--as a mother--to not repeat her behavior with
my boys when they were growing up.