First Post From a "Stranger"

Wow. I'm flying! I've got five hits on my counter and just received my first comment from a new cyberfriend, Terry. I can feel it...this blogging thang is addictive!

So Big Bro told Mom about my blog (ouch!) and she read it already and was suportive (phew!) BUT..."Hey, I don't check my blog 10 times a day anymore!!!!"

Maybe I exagerated a little.

But this blog is my perspective, and I'm sure I'm going to step on some toes. And I can't be retracting statements all the time. That would be boring for all of us.

My POV is definitely different than Big Bro and Mom. And I tend to be brutally honest, often to my detriment. For instance, Terry wrote me a wonderful email about how great it was for Mom to have a supportive family--and we are--but we're no angels.

Mom and I just spent seven days giving each other the silent treatment. Well deserved on both sides, I might add. Stress and worry do that to you sometimes, and we are mother and adult daughter living together. Roles blur, feelings are hurt, cuss words are said.

The thing is, even with families that love each other and are supportive, this is rough terrain. You step on each other's toes, you blow up, you cross boundaries, you infantilize people at the same time that you put too much on their plate.

It would be a disservice for everyone reading this and experiencing this to pretend that things are rosy all the time. Sometimes Mom wonders if it wouldn't be easier on us if she had died, and sometimes I'm so angry and tired I tell her to drop dead. That's life, and that's living, and that's living with and supporting somebody in a great deal of uncertainty and fear and pain.

So again, thanks for making the journey this far with my family. And for those of you who stick around with me, in the immortal words of Ms. Bette Davis: "Buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy night." :)