She is a formaldehyde pickle but she was a great mom for my first 50 years plus in utero existence

Sigmund, is that you?

Grrrrrrrr

My Dad was a fall down drunken drug addict and my Mom was his enabler. You can fill in the rest...

I told them both to go to the Hell they believed in, 18 years ago, and slept good ever since

I have to start this with a disclaimer: I do actually love my mother very much. Please keep that in mind.

My mother has always been a difficult woman to deal with. She is as bitter about life as they come, feeling that 'God' didn't give her a fare shake because she is short and her sisters were not. Even now, at 76 years old, she has clear memories of being ill-treated as a child (by other children) and cannot seem to leave those things behind her. She is not a well-informed person, and does not understand a great many things. She does not wish to, by her own admission.

When I was growing up, mom had 'Migraines' that would keep her drugged up in bed for a week at a time. As I grew older, I came to learn about addiction, and realized that the barbituates they had her on in the 70's and 80's had her stoned out of her mind in those times.

My father was a hairdresser by trade; one of the best in town during his life. But mom would have him do her hair every morning, even on weekends, and every argument they ever had started over her being displeased with her damn hair that day. At 14, when I finally told her one day that none of us gave a damn about her hair, she didn't speak to me for three days.

Yes, mom is a difficult person to deal with. The list of events and examples goes on and on, but these give you the general impression.

Now - as difficult as she can be, she is still my mother. While she remarried a few years after my fathers death, and they are still together, I think my mom talks to me more than she does to her husband. We speak at least once a day - she is lonely, and I can hear it in her voice. She will call, usually around eight, and just chat for a few minutes about her day (and yes, even now, will always tell me about how her hair was that day). Some days, its just the usual mindless chatter that I hate, but I listen, comment, and share. Because I don't want her to feel lonely. I try to go out to visit most weekends, just to see if she needs any help with things around the house (she broke both legs three years ago, so she doesn't get around very well anymore).

Mom has, over the years, helped me, and my kids, with things that made a huge difference. Six years ago, I had a Diabetic incident that left me unable to think clearly. MY actions led to the only incarceration of my life - twelve hours that I will never forget, even though the memories are seen through a blood-sugar fog in the windows in my mind. My mother and her husband came and picked up my kids - brought them to their house, helped keep my daughter from having a nervous breakdown. Gave us a place to stay for a few days until I could get stabilized.

And as much as this is a woman who will remind a person of every bad thing they ever did to her, she's never brought it up, never spoken about it again. And for that, and so many other things over the last 45 years, I am grateful.

I could get bogged down in the negative, and, in truth there have been times when my ability to deal with my mother has not been somethig that I have been proud of. I look at her life, her inability to understand, and see where it has brought her so much heartbreak, so many things that she just can't process, and honestly, I feel for her. So now, I do a lot of nodding, listening, and helping. I do not know if I will have her around for another decade, or another hour. So I try to do what I can to show her that, for all the good and bad we've had together, this is the man she raised.

Despite it all, I love my mother.

Bets friend and a mammys boy .......lots of girlfriends have been jealous .....yet my mum has never interfered with any of my relationships (even the bad ones) even giving me money when we struggled for things

we are very close and friends as well as anything. she does seem to think I'm the same as her though.

My mom passed away in 2008, we got along great.
I inherited my sense of humor from her. She liked silly jokes and puns in particular.
Occasionally I'll hear or read a joke and think to myself "that's a mom joke."

It wasn't good and now she is gone.It did mold my character to be a better person more considerate and with more empathy. The outcome was better than the bringing up however I could see how someone who was raised in this manner could become just as bad in their life. I am afraid that the latter has happen to many times.

My mom loved me. She died in 2006.

My mom is a good person. She has extreme anxiety and never let me make mistakes growing up. I couldn't even ride my bike around the block in the best neighborhood around until I was 12. We started butting heads around 17. A counselor told us I should move out. She didn't like that and we never saw the counselor again.

She will do anything for me, but as an adult, I am still her child and always will be. It has it perks, I guess!

She is an awesome grandma for my son. We all have our flaws, but we work through them and we know we will all be there for each other.

I'm fortunate to still have both of my parents. Mom will be 80 this year. Dementia has started to set in. And the worst part is that she is fully aware of it. It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't realize it.

She's always been the cool mom. All of our friends always wanted to be at our house when we were younger.

Mom always let us use our own judgement growing up and make our own decisions but, she was always there for advice when we wanted it.

I'll never forget the discussion that we had regarding marijuana when I was 17. I asked her opinion on it. She said she really couldn't say because she had never tried it. I asked her if she wanted to. So, mom and I smoked a joint together that afternoon in 1977. She never had an issue with it after that. She just said, "If you ever get busted, don't expect me to bail you out."

I'm going to Arizona to see her at the end of May. ROAD TRIP!

She was such a special lady and mother to me. When I was a wild teenager. She use to give me cigarettes when I ran out.

I had a wonderful, loving mother who was actually one of my best friends after I hit adulthood. I'm pretty sure I had the best mom in the world and I miss her more than I can say. She wasn't a perfect person or a saint. I don't have her up on a pedestal. She was just a hilarious, warm, sassy kind of person. We laughed together a lot. She had an enormous impact on my character.

My mother is not a person I would have anything to do with by choice and as far as I am concerned she is not a nice person and we are family through an accident of birth and nothing more. I gave up on pleasing her many years ago and have no contact with her.

My little brother was born when I was a year and a half . Dad was away in the military , and I remember when I first met him , close to my brother's birth . So Mom had her hands full , with two babies . They didn't have today's conveniences then , so I can imagine how difficult it was on her . At any rate , my early years were along the lines of Spanky and Our Gang . I often meandered around on my own , a lot . When I was 5 , we moved , "to the country ." Mom made a point of going to the library , each week , and getting as many books as her library card allowed , some for each of us . I remember her reading bedtime stories from a book of myths , she'd been given as a child . Again , I spent a lot of my daytime time meandering around , on my own , when school wasn't in session . She was always a Sunday school teacher . As we got bigger , she got involved with the PTA . She worked hard at trying to get all the things that needed to be done , done .

Been dead for a long time

She's dead.
There was no meaningful relationship.
At 13 I left home and had no contact with any family after that.
I didn't miss anything.

My mother is a narcissist. She's hilarious and creative. A wonderful story teller. People are drawn to her charisma. But underneath that, she's extremely... difficult. I'm trying to do my best not to parent the way she did. We get along because we live far apart and I don't share anything overly personal with her. She adores my children and I'm happy they have a good relationship with her.