“I haven’t spoken to my Mom in two years. I don’t even remember...

“I haven’t spoken to my Mom in two years.  I don’t even remember what started it.  It was on Christmas.  We were arguing about something stupid and it just escalated.  Then we started fighting about the past.  She’s at this age where she isn’t making many new memories, so she just lives in the past and glorifies the old ones.  Which isn’t a bad thing, I guess.  But she refuses to remember the hard times.  And it’s extremely frustrating.  Both my parents were always so stuck in their own stories.  Their own problems.  It was never about me.  I know that sounds selfish, but children are selfish.  You have to be selfish to survive.  I was never acknowledged.  Never encouraged.  Never had the feeling they were proud.  They didn’t even show up to my graduation.  It took me so long to get over that shit.  It took me so long to feel worthy.  And now, all these years later, my mother’s story is this:  ‘I did everything for you, I sacrificed everything, and your childhood was beautiful.’  She says it in a way that implies I should be thankful.  And grateful.  And what’s most triggering, she says it in a way that implies I should pay her back.”
(Berlin, Germany)