Moms.

I was on the phone with my mother this morning and she said something that immediately made me want to hang up the phone and cool off before saying something to piss her off. She does this often. There haven't been many conversations where I hang up and say "Gee I'm sure glad I called her!" Now don't get me wrong, I love my mother dearly. And I think after my father passed away, we became extremely close. Out of the 4 children she and he had together, I was really the only one who stayed with her. I slept at her house for 2 weeks while having a perfectly good bed in my own apartment. I was her shopping partner. Dinner partner. Movie partner. I was too scared to leave her alone, so now we're extremely close. And I'm wondering - is it too close?


Anyway, I didn't want to make this a post just about my mom. I wanted to know - Do all Moms of the world know the exact buttons to push and if so, are these buttons pushed on purpose? Or are there better intentions behind their big red button pushin' cake bakin' fingers? If your mom is like mine, then I would say it's about 50/50. Sometimes it seems like she's just looking to get a rise out of me for her own personal enjoyment. Other times, I would say she is genuinely just trying to give me advice. For some reason, I can't take her advice. Is it a problem with me? Why does she make me feel like I'm still a teenager yelling in my Marilyn Manson clad bedroom with the cd players volume up way too high? WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN? And then, when my anger has pushed me over the edge and I get snippy.. well.. Here comes the guilt.


Ah, the guilt. My mom can spread the guilt on thicker than cream cheese frosting (I told you, I really, really love food). Most of the activities I hate doing in my life are done out of guilt. Miss a nephew's baseball game? Guilt. Say no to a family member? Guilt. Yell at someone extremely deserving of being yelled at? Guilt. I don't think guilt is necessarily a bad thing - How else would I get anyone to do anything for me? (haha! I'm learning!) However, when it is now almost a reaction to everything you do.. That's where it becomes no good. I could have a toe falling off, lose my hair and break an arm but I would STILL have to go to a birthday party/wedding/shower/sometypeofeventiwouldratherchokearatthangoto/etc because I feel so DAMN GUILTY FOR SAYING NO. And this is how it starts.


Me: Hey just calling to say hi.
Her: How are you?
Me: I'm good, how are things?
Her: They're good.
Me: Oh that's great.
Her: Cousin soandso twice removed from the family then married back in's Uncle's granddaughter is having a birthday party for her dog, are you going?
Me: I wasn't planning on it.
Her: Oh. Well I assumed you were because she helped you with your homework/went to a movie with you/told you about a movie that one time. So I thought you would want to return the niceness and go to her party. She always does such nice things for you. (See how one nice thing turns into several nice things over a period of time?)
Me: Looks like I'm going.


And that's it. Roped in. So, basically, I'm just wondering if anyone else has the same issues with their moms?