my shoulder is hurting today. yesterday was a day of mania:
my mother was manic because her mother was coming into town. my brother was (extremely) manic because he got into another gargantuan fight with his (extremely) unstable girlfriend. The boyfriend was just tired as hell and I think he's pretty bored with the monotony of moving somewhere new and being immobile. I read an advice column for most of this morning: http://dir.salon.com/topics/since_you_asked/
and have decided that I would make up a fictional entry for myself:
Dear Cary-
I'm a college student with a pretty good life going for me; I'm not really worried about my future career, I've recovered from a pretty deep depression in the last year, and I have a great boyfriend who I love. There only seems to be one missing piece in the puzzle: my dad bailed a couple of years ago (in a catastrophic drug-ridden fiasco)and left my mom in the lurch with my then tween sister. I have taken up a big role in parenting since then.
It fucking sucks. I get so stressed about the whole situation so much. I mean, my mom certainly isn't perfect, and neither am I, and the very logistics of raising a child between two imperfect people, one of whom is not even a parent, is really getting to me. I moved in with my mom, after a good 5 years of not living with her, to help out. Its really stressful, and in a lot of ways I'm the one who makes and enforces all the rules for my sister (mom's a recovering alcoholic and a diabetic). I'm moving out in a couple of days and I'm really worried about it. One the one hand me having my own place will be good for me, and for my sister to have somewhere to go if she and my mom get pissed at eachother that isn't her friends' house, and on the other if I move out my sister will inevitably spend every night (and possibly move in) at her friends house (recovering alcoholic mom, independently wealthy, batshit crazy codependent).
I realize that I have to move out, for my own sanity, although the past year living with them has taught me how to stay out of their fights and put myself first. I guess what I'm asking for is not advice, but a soothing voice in my ear, giving me the breakdown of my next emotional move.

Sincerely,

Family Frustrated