[RavenSong]

I cannot believe how much my mom sounds like your mother. They could be identical twins...

You're stronger than I am -- I have never been able to completely detach from my mother and her craziness. I was able to find a "happy medium" of sorts throughout the years by becoming emotionally distant from her. At times, I questioned whether I even loved my mom at all. She sucks all the air out of the room, and I end up just feeling plain tired.

When she had her stroke last August, I found myself attaching to her again. And I discovered that I truly do love her. Sometimes I wonder whether I'm crazy to keep up the relationship with her...what does it say about me? Am I a masochist? Is this just the classic abused child syndrome? These are the things I wonder about in the middle of the night. It's complicated, to say the least...