Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Last Straw


"Bye!" she says aggressively as she hangs up on me. Somehow she manages to turn a one syllable word into two syllables with a heavy accent on the latter half. I wait a couple of seconds to let it register that she has actually hung up, but it is silent on the other end. I burst into tears hysterically, half shocked that I still react this way to her dramatic exits.

I am no longer a child but a 33 year old woman still haunted by that old house and its secrets. I am a woman who is still intimidated by her mother's anger and easily manipulated by her mother's extreme emotions. My four year old stands quietly outside of my bedroom door, shyly questioning what he should do to console me. "Mommy? Is your mommy being mean?" He is anxious with his fingers in his mouth as he whispers. It is a nervous habit of his I have been trying to address as I myself look down at my bitten cuticles and short nails. I'm sure he's watched and picked up my bad trait.

I had a fear the call would end badly before I even had made it. My hope was that it wouldn't. I had a plan to be calm and careful with my request. I had a pressing need to see her, but I knew before dialing the phone that I would be rejected. I thought I was ready for it, but somehow it still stung so deeply. I was startled at my pain and tears. I knew better, but I still had asked.

Ten minutes ago I sat on my bed next to laundry I had just folded and held my cell phone in my hand. I had already dialed her number but waited to hit the word "call" and tried to build the courage to ask. It was never easy to ask to visit. I had already asked two weeks ago.

"We'll just have to see how it goes," was what she left me with.

Yesterday was Christmas, and I had already talked to her on the phone today for 45 minutes. She calls several times a week and talks to me about her job and the ladies she works with. She rarely asks me questions, but at least she calls. Sometimes I try to share something personal, but I can hear her typing on her keyboard, and shortly after she will ask, "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

Having just spoken with her hours earlier, I encouraged myself to call. I reflected on the last several times I had tried to ask for an invitation. (My mom's "policy" is that you are to be invited to her home. Never do a drop by. She won't answer the door. It's quite rude to just show up, you know.)

I have not been to her home since my son was six months old, and my plumber husband had worked on her hot water heater. She lives only an hour away, and I have requested to visit several times. Always, I am denied. I began getting suspicious about her home. It had been several years since she had surrounded herself in filth, but I was getting more concerned that she was doing it again. My son is four and a half. He does not ever remember visiting his "Nana." A couple of years ago she told me she was working on Christmas gifts and didn't want the kids to get into needles and supplies. Somehow that shifted into a top secret project she was working on that had things scattered around her home... in every room... Of course, that project was absolutely none of my business, she said. For several months we couldn't visit because it was election time, and she was unsure of her work schedule. She swore the city would use her on weekends, even Sundays, and they would not give her any notice of what days she was expected to work. One excuse was Jason use to have ear infections, and she thought it best he stop coming for a while. Angrily she told me one day things were the way they were because she claimed I always chose my Granny over her. The best, by far, was when she said her chihuahua had a cough, and she didn't feel like it would be good for my son or her dog to be around each other while he was sick. My sister said Mom told her no one could visit because once I had requested that she visit us instead of the three families (my brother, sister and myself) loading our four small children under two years of age to travel to her house. She said I had said it would be easier for her to drive to visit us. I cannot remember making that statement, and I'm pretty sure I didn't. Regardless, I don't see it as all that offensive of a request. My sister, however, was given this excuse as to why no one is allowed to visit. Mom huffed, "I would have never said something like that to my mother."

All of her "reasoning" seems to hold no actual logic and only creates suspicion. I know that I can't do anything about her hoarding. I know she won't be honest about the real reason no one can visit. I'm not sure why she insists on lying about it since we grew up with her for so many years knowing the truth.

Mom answers the phone. After a few moments of small talk I get the courage to ask, "So, I was calling to see if you had given anymore thought to us visiting you in a couple of weeks."

She says, "Well, I told you a while back about that project? I'm still working on it."

I am heartbroken. Really? Does she think she is fooling me? I delicately try to respond. "Mom... you've been working on that project for two years."

She immediately becomes defensive. "Ammmmaaannnnddaaaa..." she drags out raising her voice in a scolding manner which automatically annoys and angers me. "DO NOT PUSH ME."

"Don't, Mom. Don't yell at me like I'm a child. I'm just asking if we could visit. You could put everything in another room and we would stay in only one room."

"I can't. There are... things... for the project... all through the house."

I am exhausted with this game. "Can I know what the project is?"

She becomes even more angry."No!"

"Well, can you give me a deadline of when the project might be over?"

Again she yells over my voice, scolding me for asking too many questions and "pushing her."

"Mom, I'm seeing a counselor because of all of this. I'm trying to handle it the right way. It's been two years since you last said you were working on a project, and I haven't asked you since. I just want to see you and want Jason to know you better. He is already four and a half. Time is fleeting, and I think you'll regret this. I'm not sure how healthy this is for me anymore"

"Are you THREATENING me? Are you giving me an ultimatum?"

I roll my eyes and rub my forehead. I try not to lose my temper and choose my words carefully, but she is already emotional and angry.

"I'm not giving you an ultimatum, Mom. I just would like my son to see you. I would like to visit. I'm just unsure of whether or not you even want to see me. It seems like this 'project' is getting in the way of spending time with your family."

"DON'T you do that, Amanda. Don't you tell me that ANYTHING is more important than my grandchildren or children."

At this point I am lost for words, fighting tears and realizing what a total mistake this was. It is so hard to reason with someone who works so hard to be offended at every corner.

"This project is NOT about you, Amanda."

"Mom, I realize that. I'm just saying, it does affect me. It affects my family. I don't think it's fair for me to try to explain this to my son... why he can't go to his grandmother's house. You've given me so many reasons, from your schedule, to your dog's cough, to some alleged statement you think I made..."

The word "alleged" threw her into a frenzy. I should have refrained from saying it. I had done so well at remaining calm.

"I don't have to talk to you about this. I'm saying goodbye."

"Mom, please don't hang up on me," I plead. I'm ashamed at myself for begging her not to hang up on me and in an instant where I actually had a backbone I say, "If you hang up now, you hang up forever. Please don't hang up."

Then the one word transformed into two syllables broke my heart. "BYE!" she says with force and a bit of sarcasm. Then silence.

I am so broken with all of this nonsense. I am annoyed that I have allowed myself to be treated so badly for so many years. I'm not sure why I ever chased a relationship with her when she has made it so obvious she doesn't need or want it. I burst into uncontrollable tears, and I try to rush into the bathroom to hide my sadness from my son. This is it... the last straw.

My face pressed against the cold tile floor and having just failed to get my mom to allow me in her home, I yell out to no one... "I'm pregnant, Mom! I just wanted to tell you in person."

5 comments:

  1. Your writing is amazing,blowing me away fabulous. You're also breaking my heart because I've been there, done that. I remember ending a phone call with my mother where I was just as hysterical. It took me years to give up on my Mother, give up expecting her to be something she could never be, would never be, a loving mother who actually had an interest in her children. Narcissists/borderlines cannot be anything but who they are. It would be like asking a bear to be a giraffe. Can't happen and won't happen. I mourned the loss of the mother that I had spent my life trying to help, always thinking that if I could just make her happy, then we could all be happy. In my 40's I gave up on her, gave up on that whole idea. She was a bear who would never be loving mother. She just didn't have it in her. I cried buckets. It was a mourning period. I got into therapy. Eventually I could let her go and not look back. Even though my entire family, brother, father, mother were furious that I wouldn't "change back" and rejoin the family in the denial that there was anything wrong with our family. How could I do that when I had finally faced the truth? That bell could never be unrung. I never regretted it. It was so liberating. Did my kids suffer because they no longer had grandparents in their lives or cousins? Maybe. But they gained something so much more valuable, a happy mom who could focus on them, and not focusing on worrying about HER mother. The focus of a family should be on the children, but that was never true when my mother was in my life. She demanded that the focus always be on her. She had no other interest other than herself. She loved the grandchildren because they made her feel good, and gave her yet another thing to brag about. Everything in my family of origin revolved around my mother. My brother and I carried that into our adult lives. I finally freed myself from them and their dysfunctions and their illnesses. It was so liberating! Since I would never "change back" my family never spoke with me again. That too was wonderful! I missed my niece and now that she's an adult we do have a relationship. Her parents, not at all, nor do I want. My brother remains in denial about our family and there's nothing I can do about it or want to do about it. He spend his life trying to make her happy, and he's still doing it, long after her death. How sad is that?!
    Ok, I've prattled on long enough. You can get through this and be happier than you've ever been! It will be so great, once you've gotten through the mourning for what we all hoped we would have. Hug your son and stay away from Mama, for your sake, and his. Big hugs of comfort and support. Janie

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so sorry. Sending you lots of love. Faith

    ReplyDelete
  3. Writing = amazing. That you started at the end = stellar.

    More importantly, congratulations on your pregnancy!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. thank you ladies so much for your support and for taking the time to read my ranting. i'm about six weeks pregnant and wishing more than anything mom had more of an interest in my family. i've decided to separate myself from my mom especially during my pregnancy so that i can be healthy and the best mom i can be.

    janie,
    you said so much that is currently where i am in visiting with a counselor. she has mentioned that i need to take the time to mourn the neglect and abuse i suffered as a child and the mother i wanted to have. she also mentioned with my mother's personality disorder it is impossible for her to react or think in a rational way. i've spent so much time working to make our relationship healthy, but i am working now on accepting the fact that i cannot change it.

    because i'm uncomfortable talking about this stuff with my friends, i began a blog to get it out of my system. a bunch of it will be random memories, but i think it will help to release it.

    ladies - your experiences, encouragement, and well wishes mean so much. thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know just how you feel:

    14th Birthday --
    http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/123157.html

    16th Birthday--
    http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/123656.html

    Dysfunctional family ties--
    http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/64556.html

    Selling a shared home with a hoarder--
    http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/3000.html

    My history with my hoarder mother--
    http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/168549.html

    Final letter to my mother--
    http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/351933.html

    ReplyDelete