07-25-04,My mother and daughter and I have been at logger heads lately and I have much grief associated with us living together.
My mother (although I love her - don't get me wrong) has a very strong & domineering personality.
She can't blend with us at all.
She wants to be "in charge".
When she can't be, she's hell on wheels.
It's that simple.
Makes life while she's here a few months a year very hard.
She really made some of the trip to Germany crappy too.
Which I did not need.
She doesn't get along with my daughter and never has- and it's getting worse now that we are together more often.
She nitpicks everything my daughter does.
It disheartening to see.
I point it out and have before but she won't own it.
It's all about Stefanie and that something is wrong with her.
My Steff ain't perfect -but she has never deserved that kind of treatment, which is what my Mom has been serving up for over 15 years to her.
We can deal with my Dad much better- there is give and take.
We are not ready to live alone the two of us, we may eventually choose to.
My mom delighted in telling us in a rage the other day we should be on our own.
She's been hinting that she wishes we were gone often enough over the past 18 months .
After years of telling us if anything ever happened (i.e. I divorced or something) they would be there for us - after 2 years of sporadic living together under stress albeit -she's changed her tune.
My Dad seems to like us here from what we can tell.
This situation adds layers to my grief.
I chose to live with them though- so if the house is big enough and certain rules are followed we could make it work....I keep saying to myself.
