Well, I'm going to be induced tomorrow (7/26) which also happens to be MY birthday. Crappy way to spend it, but oh well. I've moved back in with my parents (adoptive mother and stepfather); when it's good, it's REALLy good, but when it's bad, it's almost unbearable. My mom thinks that because she "didn't cause her problems" in life, she has absolute righ tto tak about them ALL THE TIME. I, on the other had, "caused my own problems" and therefore have NO right to vent to her. I've been battling depression most of my life, not to mention that I have some random mental problem which makes it hard for me to pick up on social cues. Which could be blamed for a lot of the problems in my life that "I caused for myself". She won't listen to reason or respect the fact that I am 28 and shouldn't be treated like a 16 yr old. For example, she thinks that just because it's her house, she can call me 'black' which I find disrespectful (I'm mixed, thank you). I did ask her not to, and she said, "Hey, it's my house." Well, to GET respect you need to GIVE respect, and I have been respectful while I've been here. This is a problem we ran into when I was a teen; she felt she could disrespect me all she wanted because I was the child, but I owed her absolute respect because she was the adult. Now we're BOTH adults and, having lived with roommates off and on for the last 10 yrs, I understand how the dynamic works. Yes, this person may be the leaseholder (and it's therefore "their house"), but EVERYONE in the house needs to be respectful of one another.

The other sticking point is how I dress. She wants me to dress how SHE feels comfortable, but I want to dres how I *like* to dress. And we STILL fight about it! She bitches because I was very poor and borderline homeless for the last 10 yrs, so I don't own a lot of nice clothes. I admit, a few of my clothes have holes in them , but when your choice is eat or buy fancy clothes, you tend to opt for the food. Regardless, she wants me to dress differently than how I feel comfortable. This is not to say that I love wearing clothes with holes in them, but I DO dress like the musicians and artists in Cambridge, MA. Who, I might add, are oftentimes OLDER than me and have kids, too! So I remain adamant about dressing how I feel comfortable (artsy, weird, etc) because having and raising a child does NOT mean you have to give up being yourself! *sigh*

I feel a little better...

Hope all went well for the birth and everyone is ok..

I too hope all went well for the birth and Happy Belated Birthday!