Great, Ziya can express zir emotions spontaneously again … well, most of the time. Unfortunately, Ziya’s mom still can’t tolerate that. You know, one of the people – to an infant, practically gods – whose behavior required Ziya to create and hide all zir emotions behind the Censor in the first place… Yeah. Now Mom is no longer a god, but rather a person with a lot of her own psychological issues on whom I’m financially and sometimes somewhat emotionally dependent, who sometimes tries to help and understand me/my depression and sometimes …

We spent 2 days with her. 2 days. Not even the whole day. Late lunch on Wednesday, an appointment with the florist yesterday, that’s it. Explosions. She can’t deal with my emotions. While were at lunch Fox received a phone call, during which he was offered the job he’d just applied for! We were all thrilled; Mom offered her congratulations. Oh no! Ziya dared to smile, use inflection in zir voice, and hug zir spouse!!! In public!!! This could not be tolerated. “Okay, you two, quit it. C’mon!” *sigh*

Talking to the florist went well, just a ton of information. Later in the evening, we wanted to use Mom’s credit card to acquire an item for the ceremony – she’s supplying about half our budget, so instead of putting it on my card and having to pay interest and get reimbursed, we thought it would be a lot simpler to put it on her card.

Well, Ziya was still recovering from interacting with Mom and Fox earlier in the day, and getting very frustrated with logging in and out of sites, forgetting passwords, having to enter and re-enter card information, etc. Ze kind of had a bit of a nervous breakdown, not quite crying with tears but sobbing and … you get the idea.

Again, Mom couldn’t handle it. She actually yelled at me to “Stop it!”

Not good. Suicidal thoughts triggered by concern over our financial situation and difficulty communicating with Fox about it. I hate having to make joint decisions because I feel like I can’t act on what’s worrying me; I feel helpless and trapped and hopeless and if I can’t do anything about this horrible situation I’d rather just die so I don’t have to feel the pain! Later I was reading and enjoying a webcomic and Fox reminded me about my paper and it reminded me so much of my mother pushing me to do my homework (at the expense of my emotional well-being) that I broke down completely. Internalized voice of Mom: “Stop being so melodramatic!”

I’d almost rather have the Censor back. Almost.

I don’t think she’s really gone. I think that aspect of myself has been integrated. I still have some control, though maybe not as much as I would like especially given my current circumstances. I can still do things like edit my writing and empathize with people and look beyond my own wants and needs when considering how to respond to a situation and be polite. I’m just more likely to feel and express my emotions … even when it means getting into arguments with Fox and getting yelled at by my mother.

I’m an adult. She has no right to yell at me like I’m a disobedient child. Parents shouldn’t yell at their disobedient children, anyway. All it does is teach them to be mean to people, especially themselves. She was very mean to me.

We have a marriage counseling session we should leave for now and I still have a blanket over my head. Literally. I need family therapy with my mom and/or my mom to go for therapy. I don’t want to work on my relationship with Fox right now, even though it could certainly use some work. I just want to rest, alone, without anyone to see me.

In my mother’s words, I’ve “trashed” the place again. The clutter has returned. It’s not enough.

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