Oh, I should have read this yesterday. Timmy's parents are my mother, and this is one of the reasons I look for blank cards to send for Mother's Day. None of the usual sentiments like, "Best Mom Ever" or "Loved me no matter what" truly apply, and well... I've never been a liar. She loves me, but she loves the idea of me more than the actual me.
"You could really be amazing." Which is just another way of saying, "But right now, you aren't."
Thank goodness for that friend in High School, whose coined the phrase, Ceilingless Expectation Syndrome, to describe my mother. Once you realize that nothing you do will every truly be enough... you learn that you're the only critic who matters.
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Date: 2014-05-11 08:19 pm (UTC)Oh, I should have read this yesterday. Timmy's parents are my mother, and this is one of the reasons I look for blank cards to send for Mother's Day. None of the usual sentiments like, "Best Mom Ever" or "Loved me no matter what" truly apply, and well... I've never been a liar. She loves me, but she loves the idea of me more than the actual me.
"You could really be amazing."
Which is just another way of saying, "But right now, you aren't."
Thank goodness for that friend in High School, whose coined the phrase, Ceilingless Expectation Syndrome, to describe my mother. Once you realize that nothing you do will every truly be enough... you learn that you're the only critic who matters.
Well done. I wish it didn't hit so close to home.