Rules of Life, The, 4th Edition

RULE 76

Have a little respect and forgiveness for your parents

This one may or may not affect you. Personally, as I am now technically an orphan, it shouldn’t affect me. But it does. Big time. I was brought up with two major dysfunctional features. A missing father and a difficult mother. I have siblings with the same background. We have all handled it differently. I found it easier to come to terms with my mother once I too had children and could see what a difficult job it is. I could then also see that some people are intuitively, naturally good at it. And some people are, to be brutally frank, utterly useless at it. My mother fell into the latter category. Was that her fault? No. Should I blame her? No. Can I forgive her? There is nothing ...