My Mother was a Narcissist

I was sitting in front of my computer at work. My personal email was open. I forget what I was about to do, when it happened. I had recently read a book, "When will I Be Enough" and in it I found a description of my mother--to a 'T', right down to some of her …

The Importance of Respecting What You Want to Eat

I feel like lessons are being taught. For example, I made a soup out of the left over vegetables. This is something that I do. I love these soups. They are all unique, so never boring and they give me this sense of satisfaction. No food is going to waste. I have found a way …

Influences in my Youth

I was watching a series of Ted Talks on storytelling and a common theme, or rather a common element, is that each of the speakers have mentioned a strong influence when they were young. One woman spoke about being brought up in a chauvinistic household and being beat for not following the rules that she …

Narcissism-Scenes From the Front Line — The Pants

Tomato red pants were the only thing that we could find given the parameters of our shopping trip. We were in a hurry. There were things that my mother would rather be doing. Unfortunately for her, I was not yet capable of going shopping for myself. I had been wearing the same pair of pants …

Narcissism-Scenes From the Front Line — The Doctor

It's just a fragment of a memory, out of context, out of time, but a dramatic one none-the-less. My mother is in her room, on her bed, writhing in agony. She is wailing in pain and sobbing. My father is pacing back and forth in the livingroom, lost, unsure of what to do. I am …

The Narcissist Survival Guide

Do you feel like you are becoming forgetful? Do you feel like you may be losing your mind? Are you confused about what is going on? You may have a narcissist in your life... The word narcissism is being bandied about like a trend right now and it is getting confusing for those of us …

It Was Not Very Nice in My Home

Its a funny thing. I knew that my mother was not your normal, everyday mother but she differed so significantly from the other mothers of her time that it never occurred to me that there might be more to it. She was a working mom, by choice, not by necessity, and that was pretty rare …

Releasing Emotions

My dog, Bug, was still alive, but she was not responsive. I had just found her on the floor of my mother's car, a big black ford with bench seats. I ran to get my mother who was up at the club house watching the horse races with some of the trainers that she knew. …

Oak Street — Chapter 1

That was the day that I moved out of Oak Street, but I was there, off and on for six years. These years saw me through public school and into my first year of high school. By grade 10 I was too far away to walk to high school, but from Oak Street, the high …