My sister and I were not allowed to move when we were in bed. We had to sleep on our stomachs with our arms by our sides. We couldn’t roll, sleep on our side or otherwise “mess the bed”. As kids we not allowed to sit on the furniture either.

I’m fairly certain my mom had OCD, premenstrual dysphoric disorder and depression. This was in the 60’s. She had 5 kids, an alcoholic husband, who did what he wanted, when he wanted and no extra money for anything other than alcohol. My sister and I were twins so we were “double” the work and the usual targets of my mom’s ire which made our dad mad. And so it went.

It was both a strange and wonderful childhood. We enjoyed the freedom of the 60’s - outside from sun up to sun down if we could be and were never missed. Then there were the other issues. We had our ups and downs - a lot of them but through it all we managed to survive and we all still talk to each other! LOL

My Mom is very special to me and I hold no animosity or anger over all the things that happened. How she managed to survive through it all is still a wonder to me. I always said that when I became a parent one day I would never do the things she did and I didn’t but I understand why she did - it was to make it through one day at a time.