Bad daughter

How often does one call one's mother? What's the outside threshold of "ungrateful wretch"?

Don't get me wrong here, I love my mother, but that is tempered by the undercurrent of disapproval in her monthly relaying of the news of my siblings and her activities. She manages, without words, to convey the feeling that I've failed as a daughter. I know I'm not going to bring home any prizes, but sheeesh! she could have done much worse. So, I tend not to call as frequently as I ought. Or visit. The bad part is that she's only about 10 miles away.

I actually made a visit Friday. An in-person visit. (yea, me!) And the positive side of visiting with my mother is the force of the guilt at not living up to her impeccable standards led me to thoroughly scrub my house. So I now have a very clean home. (yea, me!)