Am I allowed to remove the mask for 5 minutes?

I hated her.

The real her? The every day her? I couldn& #39;t stand her.

And I wasn& #39;t allowed to say that...or feel that.

You know...you& #39;re not supposed to feel like that about mama.

I found myself forced to find things to love.
And oddly, I& #39;m grateful for that...because I realized there were things TO love about her.

But it was like picking through the trash.

"Imani.....*gasp"

What? It& #39;s fucking true.

She had good points. She had parts to love.

But when it came to me? She treated me like shit.
It felt like she couldn& #39;t figure out if I was a burden, a check, or competition.

She beat the shit out of me. She broke me. And she blamed me.

And I hated her for it...every fucking moment.

The day she died, I cried.

And then I said "It& #39;s finally over".

Volumes, loves.
But yet...there& #39;s parts of me that mourns losing her. Mourns her absence. Mourns those random moments.

Would I trade it though? Change it? Do I want her here?

No.

Loving her memory is so much easier than loving her being.

But you& #39;re not supposed to say that.

Good ppl don& #39;t.
And in my life long desire to be anything but her, I make myself put on the mask of loving.

I don& #39;t want to be seen as evil...cold...unforgiving...bad.

But sometimes all it is a mask.

And I get left with these moments of wondering how is it that I even really feel.

Bad.
It makes me wonder if you ever stop being that abused child.

That& #39;s all this is-a continuation of the cycle.

Can& #39;t let the world know how bad Mama really was. Smile & act normal. Yea, we had good times. Yea, I& #39;m fine. And I miss her.

But her absence gives me room to breathe.
I couldn& #39;t have survived this long if she had.

My attachment to her was bc she was all I had...all I was allowed to have.

She literally kidnapped me TWICE from my dad.

Mother& #39;s Day isn& #39;t easy at all for me.

What do I honor?

Me? The mother I had to be to myself.
Mother& #39;s Day is...mine.

I was mine & hers.

Even after all these years, it& #39;s hard not to envy people who have a mother as a source of peace.

No hate. I love it for you. I smile seeing it.

I just wish I knew how it felt.

Vent over.

Mask back on.

Happy Mother& #39;s Day.
And please forgive me for forgetting to add a trigger warning to this thread beforehand.

I know I& #39;m not the only one hurting, and I apologize if this set any memory off for you.

I wish I could keep it in...but just once...I had to release it.

Forgive me for that.
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