Ha ha, yeah, don't we all?? LOL!!!! One thing that might help you specifiy what might be a problem for you later is, to see if you can pin-point what it is, exactly, that feels like you'd be a basket case when they're gone? What do you need to be able to do for yourself later, that you aren't doing now?

That's a good point. I think what I get is unconditional love. But I am a good son, I help them with whatever they need so it is a two way street. I will really miss just shooting the breeze with my dad and I will really miss my deep talks with my mother. But I'm expecting them to live into their ninities so I have a while to worry about it:)

Aw, that sounds like good ole' fashioned healthy relationship, especially considering the circumstances....I don't believe that staying with your parents (and all the other "dysfunctional" idiosyncricies) is necessarily always dysfunctional, or unhealthy. We're all humans, afterall!! And part of it is cultural, too....a Mexican friend of mine told me once, it is common for someone's parents to give up to 1/3 of their income to their adult children until they can live on their own....(but I think the parents often live with them, too). But in the US, I think that whole scenerio would be a scandalous dr. Phil show!!! LOL!!

I don't think so. I know plenty of parents that have done just that, given up 1/3 to even 1/2 their income for their children. I was lucky enough to have my own income to waste on a nasty divorce. To bad to because I genuinly loved my wife but with her BPD there was just no reasoning with her. It's really sad to me that I had to give up a person that I loved to a mental illness. Unfortunatly she didn't think she had an illness, like most BPD foks. So I had to go my own way for my own sanity.

If you have a good relationship with your family, that is like gold.

My Dad died in 1988 and I still miss him to this day. He was the steady rock of our family. We all learned to live and adjust since he's been gone. My Mom has always been Bipolar even though she was not diagnosed until about 1985 or so. Our relationship has been up and down over the years due to her and my Bipolar. Now I find myself her primary caregiver as she is 81 and lives in an Assisted Living facility. Our relationship now is good though different, as I am more the "parent" in the picture now.

Try to enjoy the time as you have it with your parents and TELL them often how much they mean to you. I wonder, do you have any siblings? I have found my sisters very supportive since Dad died and I got divorced. They all work full-time an d help with Mom as they can.

They lean on you more than you lean on them. My mom is still alive and will be for a while longer, hopefully.

My dad died maybe 8 to 10 years ago. Time to be grateful and to lean on us like we lean on you.

they took me back after my diagonses and have been there ever since it good to now they care i wish i was so dependent on them but for the time being it work it scary to think about not have a thing to fall back on i just think that with my family to support me this process would have been a lot harder

I think it's wonderful that you have parents who are emotionally strong and supportive, MM - they sound so, anyway. And that you can talk to them about anything, is Priceless. Truly.

I know I have "good" parents - the kind that would be accepted as "fine folks" anywhere, etc. And they Continue to take me back into the Loop, per se, no matter what. We're the same age, you and I...:P

But I can't Imagine talking to them about anything Important - they're up for surface talk and That's It. So you're very fortunate.

Nor do they support me in certain ways, which it sounds like you have. Since coming back home in February, I haven't found a job here - it's a small town, *sigh*

But I'd like to volunteer certain place around town, or write for the paper - NEITHER of which my parents will "approve of", because I might say something controversial, or I might associate with black people (Yes, my parents are That Stupid), etc.

Since they are helping me financially right now, I feel obligated to "do what they say" - but sometimes I think I would have been Much more stable if they had just Saw me like I was a real person.

Lots of regrets there, though they are people that have made Wise Decisions all their lives and really are Good Folks - you know?

My Mother has a copy of my first children's book I wrote in a dresser drawer. Along with a cassette tape and a CD of my first recordings.

Neither have ever had the paper taken off. She never read my book; she never listened to my music.

I have very little self-esteem in life. But I have learned that, even though my parents are Incredible people...they don't have much self-esteem either.

Sad. Yours sound really cool, MageMichael.

hah! I can't Believe the grammatical errors I made in the past.

Good grief.

"POST"! ...okay, I'll stop now.

No my relationship with my folks has always been a mess. I have learned on them a few times but they have never been there for me. Dad died a few years ago round about the time I got some repressed memories It's all a long story but didn't go to his funeral and haven't relly haven't spoken to mum since.

@Grumpydan you are soooo right! In the last year or two my one Aunt and Uncle have became more like parents to me then my Dad has been. (My mother passed away 5 years ago)

Goingthru, I was born in Columbia, SC. When we visited the beaches at Charleston, I loved it. I wouldn't mind living up there; it is so nice.
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I leaned heavily on my mom. I had a wonderful relationship with her from about age 81/2 to 13, but then she got Parkinson's with Senile Dementia, so it was no longer possible to really relate to her after that. She had two deaths-one a death of the mind and then the death of the body when I was 19.