Crazy Daughter Syndrome

I used to think I was a very forgiving person until I saw the play Well by Lisa Kron the other night. OMG! Do I really act like that? I totally saw myself in this play last night. I was the crazy daughter that was over reacting and freaking out.  The play was about a daughter who puts on a play about her life and her mother keeps interrupting. Her mother doesn’t like how she’s compressed the story  and keeps trying to correct her daughter’s memory of how things really went. The Mother continually interacts with the actors and wins them over. They help her when she can’t reach her glass of water and listen to her, unlike her daughter. The actors take real interest in what the mother has to say and the advice and wisdom she has to dish out. The daughter has a tough time keeping the actors in character and keeping her mother off the set.  It was amazing to see how easily the mother captured the hearts of the actors and how they quickly fell in love with her. To the actors the mother was a loving, caring, ill woman.

I felt like I was seeing my life played out before my eyes in a way. Yes, I know my mother loves me and cares about me just like this mother did for her daughter, but just like my mother had the hardest time, expressing it and continually put her foot in her mouth.  It was amazing to me how the actors could not see how manipulative the mother was and how the things the mother said hurt the daughter.  All everyone saw was how sweet and fragile the mother was. They saw her as this pillar of wisdom. Someone they wanted to spend more time with and help in her time of need.

I’m not sure if it is that I’m not forgiving and that my mother has really changed over time and I just don’t see it.  Or is it that I am like this daughter and I know how things will play out.  If you really analyze your relationships you may realize that after you have known someone for a long time you know how things will play out. You know what they are going to say and do even if you have never entered that exact situation before.  If you aren’t an abstract person. Think about it like a game of checkers or chess. After you play with someone for awhile you learn their strategy and you know what their next move will be.

Now that I have seen my life played out before my eyes and see how silly I look in front of strangers will I change?  I should because if I look anything like her, I look like crazy a woman that has totally lost it. That overreacts to the smallest and dumbest things. 

Thanksgiving is coming up. We’ll see how it plays out. For now I think it’s best if we just stay in a crowed room to keep the holidays peaceful and happy.