my mother spent all her money the minute it landed in her hand

and my step-father was a depression-esque penny-pinching accountant who had home economics down to a science. my real father has never been there for any of us, so he doesn't count.

my mom and step-dad didn't argue about money very often because their marriage was one of convenience. my step-dad made sure to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. in fact, he did it so well he ended up screwing my mother out of most of her share of the house and belongings when my step-father eventually cheated on my mother and then divorced her.




she then took what money she had left, fell into a Great Depression of her own and, at 52 years old, met a bunch of people who accepted her for who she is and decided to start smoking crack for the first time in her life. all fifty thousand dollars of it. in six months.

i no longer speak to her because of it.

after 30 years of trying to help a woman who doesn't understand what love is, i gave up and have decided to let her help herself for the first time in my life.

she's now 57 and trying to get out of the gutter, last i heard.

maybe she'll do it before she dies.

who knows.