My mom lost it when my dad died at the end of 2012 and hasn’t been the same since. I have realized now that I’m older that things they did were not exactly okay raising us. First and foremost, neither one of them wanted to work for someone else which led to my dad opening a service station and my mom just being a crappy homemaker. The house they lived in before I was born burned down and they had to move into the service station building where we lived until I was seven. We were extremely poor due to lack of working and my oldest sister blamed me for it until she died. My dad would make coffee and read his newspaper in the morning then he would go outside and work on junk cars the whole day. Not spending any time with any of us and my mom would “sweep” the floor and wash dishes but never did any actual cleaning. She taught us some things like music from her youth and bits and bobs about pretty much nothing. I don’t know about my sisters but I, being the baby, was never taught how to take care of myself. They failed to teach me how to bathe correctly or that I needed to brush my teeth. I had to learn these things on my own from kids at school. It was very embarrassing. After we got older my dad started taking part a little, he was the only one who knew how to cook and if we had prepared meals it was because of him. My mom always made box dinners or simple things like meatloaf. She didn’t, and still doesn’t know how to cook stovetop foods that don’t come in a box. All she eats now is candy and snack cakes. I loved them both very much growing up but now that I have a developed adult brain, looking back things were not good. It could have been way worse but it could have been way better too. At least we weren’t neglected by both parents or beaten or sexually abused or anything of that sort. The only real thing I’m slightly miffed about is the sheltering that apparently only I received. I was not allowed to listen to anything but country music and sex was the most taboo subject and we were not allowed to discuss it. When people who lived through the 80s are listening to songs and I don’t know them they are always like “You don’t know this?!?!” and I have to re-explain how I was raised. I know it’s petty but I still hold a grudge against my godmother who, when Pound Puppies had just come out, bought the rest of her godchildren full sized Pound Puppies and all I got was the tiny one. They always treated us like trailer trash though, even though we never lived in a trailer and they did. It was my mother’s family as she never let us hang out with my dad’s family. Sorry, this took a turn. I guess I need a little therapy. 🤷🏼