hi sue,
i do believe that my mother is very jealous of my relationship with my children and my grandchildren. she was also always very jealous of my relationship with my father and my grandparents who i loved dearly. she always tried to get in the middle of any conversation of even get in the middle of a hug ... and i also think she must wonder every day how much my family knows about HER, which is plenty.
i think it is wonderful how you teach your children about all of their heritage. i am a mix of irish, engish, and german, and a drop a scotch and french! but i do not think of myself as anything in particular and i have had friends of every kind. it is great to know the different traditions.
i think you and i had a good long look at many different types of pain at a very young age and we realized way back then that it is what is in the heart that counts.
i think the nightmares were a combination of the discomfort, the inability to move, and the mean mothers ....but we are the mothers now and we are not mean, not at all. i am so glad we have met.
much love, joan