My mother always thought I was at fault even when I wasn't. When I was in high school some girl was bullying me, and I hadn't done anything to her, and Mom said, well, you must have done something to make her mad. Like what? Breathe?

One time I had an accident in bad weather. When I called her, the first thing she said was, who's going to pay for it? I guess she figured that if I was well enough to call her, she could skip the niceties of "are you okay?"

Now that she's retired she's much easier to get along with. Even so, I'm still having a gulp or two of Jamesons before I go to her house for supper on Monday...