YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

So, for my birthday, my mother gave me a necklace with a charm that's a heart in a circle with the legend, "Daughter, my love for you has no end". It's one of those inexpensive trinkets you would maybe give to a 13-year-old.

I will be 43 on Tuesday.

Yes, the sentiment is sweet. Yes, I appreciate the thought. Yes, I know she was just looking for something for me to open because she was also giving a gift certificate. But how could you NOT recognize that this is jewelry for a child? She's always treated me like the slow one and assumes I can't care for myself, and this gift really feels like reinforcement! Jesus! 43 and my mom still has the power to make me feel like crap!

Please laugh, herself! You are so pretty when you laugh!

Did you tell her that? Regardless of how old we get, parents will always view us as children, and they don't often know when to stop the "child" crap until we tell them.

My mom and I actually send that cutesy, sentimental, child-like things to each other for fun. As my mom told me when I questioned her on it - "Sometimes a child's bracelet [she had sent me a magnetic animal bracelet] best expresses what I want to say."