Welcome to another edition of Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group. Be sure to visit Alex, and all of the talented bloggers who are always willing to lend support. Below is a story that hints at where my insecurities all began.
Sharp Wit Cuts Deep
I'm used to hurling insults, and clever cut-ups. Yes, I am talking about my mother again, and this cutting edge story is not for the squeamish. It all began in July when my mom announced once again that I'm a "horrible daughter." I'm hoping that this story will unite other horrible daughters, but realize that this is wishful thinking, as no one has committed a more heinous act than I.
My mom and I used to have weekly outings to the beauty shop. When I began working last year, her caregiver started accompanying her for long, leisurely afternoons of billowing blow driers and near death by hairspray asphyxiation.
Now my mom doesn't have to travel farther than the second floor of her building for weekly comb-outs and blow- drys. Remarkably, during her five month stay only one stylist has quit.
Mom: She doesn't know from teasing.
Horrible Daughter: No one likes to be teased, especially about their work.
Mom: I'm talking about teasing hair. You know with a comb. Will you please try to keep up!
Her beautician for over 20 years is an expert at teasing and roughing, so she set the bar very high. The second floor stylist hasn't quite earned her trust yet, so my mom has decided to take matters into her own hands.
Mom: Bring me a pair of scissors.
Horrible Daughter: Why do you need scissors?
Mom: I don't have time for all of these questions. Dinner's in three hours. Just bring scissors, or don't bother to come.
Visions danced through my head of all the terrible things my mom could do with scissors, because she has Parkinson's Disease, and her hand shakes. She could cut her finger, or drop the scissors on the floor and step on it while she's scooting around in the wheelchair. Another scenario involved unknowingly dropping it on the bed and bleeding to death in her sleep. So I hatched a plan.
On my next visit, instead of greeting me with, "Hello my precious daughter," the first words out my mom's mouth were, "Did you bring me the scissors?"
I smiled and handed her my boys' safety scissors with curved edges from 1992. They looked brand spanking new. My mom was not happy.
The subject of scissors didn't come up again until about a month later when she asked me to get something out of her nightstand drawer. I discovered a larger pair of contraband scissors with squared off edges for cutting bandages.
Horrible Daughter: Where did you get these?
Mom: The nurse gave them to me.
Horrible Daughter: No she didn't. You stole them.
Mom: I did not steal them. She left them in my room.
Fortunately, there was no sign of a shiv under her bed.
Recently, my mom brought up the scissors again when she decided that the stylist couldn't be trusted, and she was going to give herself a haircut.
It was a beautiful Saturday, so my husband and I took my mom for a long walk to a shopping center about a mile away. She loves to shop, and even found a cute top with a gift card from her grandsons. After dinner, we walked back to her room. Then she said, "Did you bring me the scissors?" When I replied, "No," she didn't take it well.
Mom: It's the only thing I asked you to do.
Horrible Daughter: You can't give yourself a haircut. You could poke your eye out.
Mom: I'll be fine. I never complain about anything. It's the one thing that would make me happy...
I started to gather her clothes from the hamper to take home to wash.
Mom: Don't wash my clothes. Don't ever do anything for me again.
She said goodbye to my husband, and not one word to me.
A few days later our cousins went to visit my mom, and they offered to bring her anything she wanted. They suggested bringing cookies, candy, anything at all. My mom didn't want to be a bother, but she thought she was low on Kleenex, as she was down to four boxes. Hence, they brought her some emergency Kleenex.
Then I asked why she didn't tell them she needed scissors, and she replied, "You know I should have. I forgot all about it."
