Your relationship with your mom.

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My mother is a good enough mother. She chooses to pretend things are always good and has no idea who I actually am. She thinks I'm a terribly selfish person because I chose not to include her in why I do things and let her think what she wants because of it. I needed her when I was in my early 30s - abusive relationship, lost job, 30 year old best friend dying of cancer, money problems, etc. etc. etc. - all she could say to me was she couldn't afford to help me. Thing was, I never asked her for help. Not once. I just needed someone I loved to tell me everything was going to be okay - even if it wasn't. I pretty much realized I had no one to talk to or rely on that day. I've never forgotten or forgiven that, and I doubt I will.

She's more interested in being right than she is in not cutting someone to the bone. She knows I dated men and women equally and my current partner is a woman, but she merely gets this pained look and pretends it doesn't exist and no one will ever find out, so it's all good. What people think matters more to her than most things do. Her mother taught her that.

She was a wonderful mother when we were young. My brother isn't complicated and hasn't had a complicated life. She's a good mother to him still. She loves me. I love her. She's a good enough mother to me now. But that's all she'll ever be - good enough.