Posted by Ilene on May 20, 2004, at 19:46:21
In reply to Body acceptance, posted by Dinah on May 18, 2004, at 10:14:34
Gaaaahhhhh! My current ruminations revolve around turning 50 in less than one week, and feeling fat, ugly, unsexy, and like the world has passed me by.
Not only does it freak me out to be Turning Into My Mother, but she, too, used to present me with useless gifts. As if she paid no attention to me at all. She did try, at times, by giving me books or something similar, but she'd usually miss the mark by getting something too cheap--like a poor-quality edition of Audubon's Birds of America. I mean, what's the point?
(On the other hand, I always had a terrible time coming up with gifts for her.)
While my mother may have been able to acknowledge that the two of us were different people, when put to it, she could never acknowledge that my--or anyone else's--opinions or preferences had any validity. She treated my choices with disdain, to the point where stating, "I don't want an X" didn't stop me from getting an X if my mother thought I needed an X.
Sure hope my daughter doesn't ever think that of me. So far things are a lot better than they were between me and my mother when I was 17.
poster:Ilene
thread:348135
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040517/msgs/348996.html