My mother turned away from me within 5 minutes of seeing me and found other ways to keep me out of her sight for most
of my
life. I think she was mentally ill looking back and I learned not so practical ways
of living because of that. My father was violent, brilliant, top of his field, but violent in a cruel way. The last letter I have from him begins, "Are you cured yet?" I suppose he thought he was being funny to joke about his daughter's disabling incurable illness.