When I was in high school, if I finished a book at night, I had to start another one so that I was sure of another day of escape.

I'm with Amy: orange creamsicles are awesome.

Hi Karl!

Especially since I've been telling myself that I'm not allowed to make snarky comments about "Fast Eddie" anywhere

But why not? I'm so tempted to point out that if everyone's relying on his statements about what Google's requiring, they should know he doesn't exactly have a great record for truth.

... frankly, it is a little weird that we are the only ones who seem to know or care that Gus Weremonkey is Fast Eddie and he committed psuedicide. I mean, we talk about it quite publicly here, and it's not hidden (although not indexed either). Weird.

Would Tropers care? I suspect not.

Mother didn't want to get me headphones for my stereo because she was afraid I'd never come out.

The absolute hardest thing about not having a chance to become a parent was that I had really been looking forward to having a parental relationship with my children. I have some friends who had similar upbringings and they're phenomenal parents and are relishing creating their own little family. It's been hard. And I am sick of people just piping up with "adopt!" to me. Like a kid is something I can just to the store to buy.

And about cold drinks: every time I go to Texas or Nebraska to visit family, I treat myself to a peanut butter shake at Culver's. Oh my *gawd* it's spectacular!

I was always afraid I'd be a parent like my parents. I come from a long line of crazy, and I thought it better to end the chain.

I thought that for a long, time, too, Ginger. It was what kept me from actively seeking marriage/kids in my 20s. And then when my 30s shaped up to be pretty swell, I started changing my attitude about my abilities.

And I am sick of people just piping up with "adopt!" to me. Like a kid is something I can just to the store to buy.

You can't decide you want a biological child one day and have it the next either. You could start the process of adopting if you're serious about parenting, though -- there are plenty of kids in this country alone who need a loving mom.

I come from a long line of crazy, and I thought it better to end the chain.

My godfather is of this very same opinion; I've always deeply admired him for it. Another story that deserves telling, but not here and not now.

Instead I will say: Ginger, your kindness and empathy have been an inspiration for the way I try to treat my friends and chosen family since my very early days with the Buffistas. Thank you.

Still finding it incredibly difficult, decades later, to express the anger I have towards my parents, even alone with my analyst. It’s THE issue that’s holding me back in therapy.

Oh, Tom. I hope you will be able to let yourself be angry. This was such a huge thing for me. For most of my life, I couldn't express any anger toward my family without immediately "taking it back", excusing them with an explanation of their actions and understanding how *they* felt. It was so hard to just to say how I felt and not defend them from my awful, mean, disrespectful feelings. I was never allowed to express any feeling that might have upset someone. I would get scolded for my facial expressions, never mind my words and actions! I remember looking at the devastation the tornado had left of our home, and getting screamed at because my crying was upsetting my mother. I can't even imagine telling my mom, or anyone, that I hated them. I sure wouldn't have gotten a dang cake if I did.

To this day I get extremely uncomfortable just being around an angry person (even if they're not angry at me).

Christ, yes, me too. That's a gift from my father. Or my "father" as I prefer to refer to him these days.

I'm not very good at "but they're family" thing.

Me either. Hell with that. I've got too many relatives, including my father, who were just awful, not only to me, and my guilt response wasn't aimed at them, so I had zero problems cutting them out of my life.

I was thinking about this more... I've always thought that it was just my sister who had to parent while I hid, but I'm realizing that, especially after she left (she left for college when I was 4), I was always "caretaking", not physically like she did, but emotionally. I was taking care of my mother's and my grandmother's emotions, trying never to upset them, by being as silent and invisible and "good" as I could be, because my mother was so fragile and tired and couldn't manage her own grief, much less mine, and my grandmother was just so angry and cruel. Managing them was exhausting.

Maybe I read less now than when I was a kid because there's nothing I need to escape from now.

I externalized it as some kind of wackassed sacred duty that I had to OMG protect Dad from any further emotional stresses.

This is exactly what both my sister and I did with our mom.

Karl, it's good to see your pixels. I hope you're doing all right.

Listening, especially easy listening, is such an important part of being a parent.

BAHAHA. The ones that take a second to get are the best.