Skye & Strawberry
Added 2024-05-12 19:00:43 +0000 UTCHappy Mothers Day, all! ๐ Skye really wishes she had a mother that was open and communicative and emotionally available, but no such luck! Strawberry is aloof, awkward, and extremely out of touch with her feelings.
The funny thing is, โAre you sticking around for supperโ translated through Strawberryโs several layers of stunted stoicism, means something like โPlease stay for supper, donโt leave again, I miss you more than I could ever say. I love you and I always will, my darling baby girl.โ
Comments
I know a lot of these comments are talking about their experiences with a parent like Strawberry, but if I'm being honest I relate to Strawberry more than anything. My dad's side of the family is very stoic and doesn't openly express a lot of affection and personality wise I am a lot more like my dad. I'm also autistic and expressing feelings directly can be very hard for me. I express that I care about people through actions- by doing things to help them, giving my time to them, getting them things they want/need, etc. but since being with my partner I've learned that a lot of people need to hear verbally that I care about them. I know my mom does and I've been trying really hard to get better about it because I know she needs to hear that I love and appreciate her. Relationships (of whatever kind) are hard and one thing I've learned is that they're all pretty much a work in progress and everyone involved has to keep putting in continuous effort.
ummhallelujah
2024-05-15 23:01:51 +0000 UTCHaaaaaa hahaha ha. Ha. Oof. Reading some of the comments is making me feel some sort of way. I empathize with Strawberry here - I grew up with parents who, looking back on it, consistently treated me like an inconvenience. I coped by first trying to be a people-pleaser, and when that didn't work, I just...stopped needing people. You can't be an inconvenience if you don't need anything ๐ So the eventual coping combo of "I will show you I love you through acts of service and nothing else" with "I'm the strong one, I don't need anyone else" is very familiar to me, unfortunately. I think, from my experience, a lot of it is just...well, let me get this out of the way: emotions and subconscious desires don't care about logic! Even if you know logically/intellectually that something is or isn't true, you still feel some sort of way. It's like walking over a glass bridge - sure, you *know* it's safe, but you're still scared. Back to the experience...you feel like you don't need anyone - can't need anyone. It's hard to let people do things for you - you feel terrified that you now owe them, or that you're failing by not taking care of things. Saying "I love you" is admitting you depend on the other person - and you can't do that! Depending on someone else means you're a failure and will be abandoned for being inconvenient. I imagine that Strawberry opened up and let herself depend on Saint - and then he died. He *left*, he *abandoned* her, and now she has to carry that grief and pain and she's a bad mother if she depends on her kids, so she can never, ever do that. What's the point of being a shelter for others if they have to shelter you? Except her baby is literally rejecting her shelter - a second betrayal by someone who looks unfortunately very similar to Saint. Spin that around a few cycles and it becomes impossible to talk about. I hope they get a chance to talk and work some of it out.
Scyllarus
2024-05-15 13:59:15 +0000 UTC
