"I was put on the Earth to annoy you--and I'm attempting to fulfill that one day at a time." -Me, to my mother

I am so annoyed at the relationship between my mother and me right now. (And I'm venting here even though I know she reads this.)

Why do we not get along? Because I am not exactly like her (unlike Meridith.) I think differently, I do things differently. I am a LOT like my father.

My ways may be slower, but I get it done eventually. After 21 years she has still not figured this one thing out: nagging me does nothing more than annoy me. Never once have I thought "oh gee, she keeps nagging me about it. Yay, I think I'll go do it!" No, never. My reaction is LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE!!!

She deals with things that are stressing her out by doing them, getting them done. I deal with stress by avoidance. That is just my way. It is not a bad thing. I see that my room is a mess, I am WELL AWARE! It does not mean that the moment I have some free time I want to jump up to my room and start cleaning away. No. I do bit by bit. My clothes will get put away one day. Possibly a few days later I will attempt to straighten up my desk. But of course these attempts are not actually acknowledged. Guess what...I straightened up that big pile of stuff that was on the left of my desk chair. Sure, it looks a bit more messy now that it did right after I straightened it up, but it looks better than it did last week. Guess what...all of my magazines are in their holders. There are no magazines that I subscribe to on the floor (sure, there are SkyMall and PotterBarn catalogs on the ground, but no subscribed magazines.)

My mother is the type that if you do the dishes to surprise her she will tell you you missed a dish, or loaded the dishwasher wrong, or something like that. Quite possibly THE most frustrating to ever exist.

Also-- It seems like not a dang thing I do will please her. Not a one. After 10 years (yes, 10 years, and yes, I am only almost 21.) of being nagged about my weight I do a lifestyle revamp and lose over 35 pounds. Yes, she has said she's proud of me for it once or twice, but the nagging still doesn't end. Only the other day she told me she was worried I am not excercising enough. LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE. Can't she see I am TRYING?!? Why can't that be enough for her?!? I'm not eating enough. I'm eating too much. I'm not getting enough fruits/vegetables. I need to watch my serving sizes. LEAVE ME ALONE!!! Let me take care of me.

Every blasted day it is just "how can I not get yelled at today?" How is that a way to live?

Yeah, a half hour ago she yelled at me for being up. Did she really think I didn't KNOW it was 3:30 in the morning?! Of course I do. If it was up to me I'd be asleep right now; but I can't sleep at all. Telling me that I may as well be organizing my messy room if I'm going to be awake anyway is not a way to make me like you. Far from it. LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE!!!

Nothing will make this blasted woman happy. I work my butt off to secretly get my GED done so I can surprise her. Sure, she is momentarily excited, but that quickly turns in to relief and she immediately turns back to bugging me about getting my last packet done so I will get my high school diploma.

BE HAPPY FOR ME FOR MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES!

Any one of my siblings will tell you that Meridith and I are treated extremely differently. Mer is the one that does everything right, the first time, before being asked. (Ugh.) My mothers pride-and-joy. I am the one that stresses her out. Who keeps her up and night wondering how she can't "help" me. Lemme let you in on a little secret: NAGGING IS NOT THE ANSWER.

Most of the time I try to please her. (She refuses to ever believe this idea. She says it is "such bull".) Sure, I fail miserably, but I try. Other times I just give up--I'm gonna disappoint her anyway, I might as well have fun doing it.

I love my mother, I just don't get along with her the majority of the time.