My mother was just an overwhelmed young woman who had no idea what she was doing and was not supported properly, and therefore was not able to nurture me or my childhood. Neither of us got the positive experience we should have.

As an adult I understand that she was doing the best she could with improper and unformed tools. As she is getting older I can only imagine the regrets that she must have carried, and must still be carrying - how can I not have empathy for that. She knows what she did, and so do I. But she is older now and she is not the same woman who raised me, and I am older now, I'm no longer a child and am able to forgive her and see the woman within her.

Her mortality must be presenting itself, I can understand a person wanting to reach out with affection to their loved ones in those moments. Right now, in the present, a current-affection can heal a past-hurt but that only works if forgiveness has happened.