I was ashamed and embarrassed of my parents for almost 20 years. I used to compare them with other parents and feel sad and angry in the same breath. Oh! God! Why Me!
My mom used to prepare food and serve it to my dead aunt, who according to her, was staying in our attic. And what was more horrifying and equally embarrassing, she would call my late aunt’s husband and yell,”Your wife is in my attic, come and take her home.” At that moment, I just wanted to die.
If my dad earned 10k, he wanted to spend 20k. So during my entire childhood, instead of playing with me, he was gambling with friends at clubs. Episodes of my mom crying, dragging him out of clubs and creating a scene in the middle of the road… happened almost every week for nearly 15 years. I just hated him to the core.
However, something happened a few years back that changed my thinking. I forgave my parents and made peace with my past. Tarun, my well-wiser, said something very profound – Your mom didn’t choose schizophrenia. Schizophrenia chose your mom.