Yesterday was my convocation from three long years of graduate school but it was not about me. You see my mother has a penchant for making all things about her including my college graduation, my first wedding and even my high school graduation. It seems she believes that these are appropriate times to do things which often make my sister and I wonder whether there is actually a camera hidden somewhere. Let me begin by telling you about my day yesterday and then maybe I will start at the very beginning so this story makes more sense.
- That night would be the last time in the next twenty four hours that I felt at ease.
- As an aside my mother also felt my wedding day was about her…
After we arrived at the location of the convocation my poor sister and fiancée had the pleasure of babysitting my crazy mother while I enjoyed the relative quiet calm of the ceremony. Fortunately for me I was not present for my mother’s bizarre behaviour which of course drew attention to her and away from the ceremony itself. I do not make light of the fact that she is indeed mentally ill, but I am constantly amazed that despite this I am still hurt when she insists all events revolve around her. Throughout the ceremony she managed to get up and walk around 16 times, come back and remove her shoes as well as eat (loudly) a bag of chips which she attempted to share with my fiancée by shoving them into his mouth. She also randomly spoke to strangers about random topics proving to be embarrassing enough for the rest of my family but she also tried to set my sister with an innocent bystander only to remember a minute later she is not even single. After all this she feigned exhaustion and retired to bed at 6:30 pm rendering my celebratory dinner over before it began. It ended up consisting of drive thru burgers which my sister, fiancée and I ate around my dining room table.
What I learned today was that despite all my hard work, my graduation was not about me. Maybe tomorrow…
