Not all of our mothers were wonderful.

[Paula Sims]

37. My own Mother died a year ago yesterday

The last words she spoke to me were that she had two children - a son and a daughter (she had a ruptured intestine we discovered 24 hours later so the poisons had started to work on her brain). She told me that she wasn't happy with her kids and that they were huge disappointments (note: I'm the daughter).

I asked her why, when one is a doctor and the other is a PhD in mathematics and helps shape political policy (for the dems, of course). Her response was . . .

1. My son isn't a REAL doctor, he's a dentist (OK, got me there)
2. My daughter is not associating with the "right" type of people.

Keep in mind I came from a very poor Ukrainian immigrant background so although they wanted us to hang around the rich kids, the rich kids wouldn't have anything to do with us. My Mother loved the movies from the 40's and 50's and probably learned a lot of English that way. She also was very depressed and a paranoid schizophrenic.

Today I'm a PhD in math and happily married (no kids and lots of health issues) and my brother -- well, he is a dentist but truly, he think and acts like Trump. Needless to say, we're not close. . .

So what did I do yesterday at the 1 year anniversary of her death? I went to church, went to her grave with flowers, cried my eyes out, and said good-bye. Time for me to live my life. She did what she could (she tried) but I was a big disappointment to her. Oh well. . . .

Blessings to all that have survived their childhoods.