Precious Pets, Part 2 - Patterns Revisited

This post is going to make more sense if you have read the first post in this vein.



Hm, technical difficulty--the link isn't showing up. I'll work on that.

I was thinking about something that I had noticed recently. It disgusts me that my parents fawn all over their Precious Pet, as if they are suddenly animal lovers and humanitarians, and the way that they pander to Precious Pet is disgusting because it's not like I saw anywhere near that much concern from them when I was a child. In my head I know that their current displays of affection aside, they really don't care about the Precious Pet. It's a diversion, another object for them to have a tug-of-war over.

In a completely shocking development, my parents got another Precious Pet. Actually, they took in a stray--also wholly shocking against the backdrop of their past. I don't know who my father was trying to impress, but I guarantee you that the "idea" was his and there is an ulterior motive . What has also been interesting has been my mother's reaction to it. The animal is completely anti-social (never has been socialized) but physically beautiful. I say that about how pretty it is because my mother constantly talks about how "ugly" this animal is, and she goes on and on about how it is not a pretty animal. Repeatedly calling it "ugly." And yet, I guarantee you that if I took its picture, you would all ooh and ahh over how pretty it is, because it IS pretty. But for some reason my mother is blinded to that, either unwilling or unaccepting of that fact, so she continually talks about how ugly it is. Oh, there are similarities there. Somehow Precious Pet #2 has been assigned the household role that I used to play, and Precious Pet (although maybe only "precious" to my dad and for a motive) #2 is the object of a lot of animosity from my mother. Despite the fact that much of my situation with them and this animals' are completely different, it has been assigned a role I know all too well. It absolutely hit me smack in the face when she started going on and on about how "ugly" this animal is after I had seen it. When I disagreed and started listing its attributes, she immediately started listing all its physical "flaws." Um, did she have to stare at it for hours on end to come up with a freckle on its nose? I couldn't find evidence of any such freckle, although I admit that I didn't get out a microscope. (So she was probably lying about the freckle.) Sheesh. It totally gives me a whole new...."appreciation" for her claims about me now.

Isn't it interesting how much insight the continuing patterns can bring? Her resentment of this animal oozes out of every pore, despite the fact that this poor creature did nothing to deserve it. It is quite illuminating to see so objectively that her treatment of me may really have not had anything to do with me or how unloveable I was. It was all about her and the warped relationship between my parents.