Progress

Well, here I am, home sick. Okay, not sick, but I was still drunk when I woke up, so I figured I’d better stay home to eat tamales and watch The Price Is Right.

I talked to The Beast last night. My fifteen-year-old brother is in the hospital on suicide watch. Since his cancer isn’t bad enough, my mom and her second husband decided to engage in a hostile divorce and throw my brother in the middle. Now, he says he’s gonna kill himself if he has to see his dad. This is a perfect example of my mom’s manipulation.

In this situation six months ago, I would’ve been a wreck. I would’ve bawled my eyes out and spent days wondering how they could do this to Tony. But, now I’m able to put her behavior in perspective. I realize that her manipulation is on a subconscious level and there's nothing I can do or say to make her a different person. She is who she is, and while I have to accept that, I don't have to let her control me.