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I love your posts on stories from the Center. They are so human.
posted by
TAPS.
on May 11, 2018 at 11:08 PM
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I agree with RPresta. Your last sentence sums it up.
posted by
adnohr
on May 11, 2018 at 7:08 PM
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Pat
A great post. I love the last line. It sums up so much, and so very succinctly. Thank you. It's true, we often do not realize heroics until very much later. 
posted by
Sea_Gypsy
on May 11, 2018 at 1:42 PM
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strange that as i read more and more i find stories that sound like my own. and it makes we realize people are more alike than different. and that maybe we are just a part of the whole. i guess thats why we should treat other as we want to be treated, but makes me wonder why that is so hard to do.
posted by
overtherainbow
on May 11, 2018 at 1:34 PM
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Perhaps sometimes it is not the fault of the mother. My mother once told me that she could not be as loving as she would like, because she did not have the experience as a child bestowed upon her. Her Mother was poorly most of her life and times were hard with eight children.
posted by
C_C_T
on May 11, 2018 at 10:12 AM
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Re: Re: Mom's PTSD
I'm afraid that CPTSD is endemic in American society, so many families are so dysfunctional, based on some terrible notions of children and parenting.
posted by
Ciel
on May 11, 2018 at 9:19 AM
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Re: Mom's PTSD
It wasn't a defined thing when I was a kid, but I think you've hit the nail on the head. Thanks for this very helpful comment!
posted by
Pat_B
on May 11, 2018 at 7:54 AM
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It was many years before I realized that my mom was the way she was because her childhood was worse than she made mine. She suffered from Complex PTSD, having grown up with parents who didn't value or care for her. She raged at us because she could not ever get through to them. She hated herself for it, too, but couldn't hold it back, there was that much grief, anguish, resentment, and fury behind the dam of being polite in adult society. When I learned that CPTSD was my problem, I realized how deeply it was hers, too, and I told her about it, said to her, It's not your fault! No one else understood, no one else could tell her that. She was in her 80s by then, and I fear it was too late for her to forgive herself. But I do think it helped that someone knew, that one of her 'victims' could forgive her and love her still.
posted by
Ciel
on May 11, 2018 at 7:43 AM
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