The best my mother ever came up with was a tearful "Don't you love me?" to which I replied, "Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

My mother often accuses me of not loving her, to which I can truthfully say that isn't true. If she accused me of not liking her, however, that would be a different animal.

Thinking back, my mother never guilted me about anything. My grandmother, on the other hand, was a guilt MACHINE. I think my mom reacted against her mother by never pressuring her daughters to do ANYTHING.

Somebody's got to break the cycle. I suspect that I would be doing the same if I had a daughter. On the other hand, any daughter of mine would probably be a complete wild child because I'd be so determined not to be my mother that I wouldn't be the hardass you all know and love.

any daughter of mine would probably be a complete wild child because I'd be so determined not to be my mother that I wouldn't be the hardass you all know and love.

Heh. Nobody knows how to be a hardass parent when they start, Vortex. You develop it as a matter of survival.

P-C, I think you should give your mother a copy of "Pierre" by Maurice Sendak.

For what it's worth, it was the last time Mother tried the guilt trip on me. I think what I felt for her by that time was respect and some affection. I was always both baffled by and envious of the people in my dorm whose families showed up and hugged them and seemed honestly sad to say good-bye.

My mom's guilt trips were frequent, but really quite minor. They were more like guilt errands--pick up your room! when are you coming up for the weekend? don't forget to call!

I am having a massive self-image demon attack tonight. It's been building for a while, and it's hitting pretty hard tonight. Bleh.

Oh, Sean, I'm sorry to hear that. You're a super awesome person and I like you a lot and I wish this stuff didn't happen to you.

Those demons are lying liars who lie, Sean. That's what they do.