Don't you dare suggest that I disrespect your mother. I'm simply aware that she has a hard time letting go of her image of you as her little baby boy. You're her only child - of course she does. And if it makes her happy to hold onto that, then so be it. I just wish you wouldn't make that so difficult. If you called her more often, or acted even slightly happy to see her when she make an effort to go up and visit you - that might help.
You just made it sound that way. Making out Mom is deluded when it comes to me.
It wouldn't matter what I did, Dad. It'd never be good enough. It'd never be right. So, why should I bother pleasing you, when I know I'd never be able to, anyway?
What, so when something is hard, that's the signal to just give up? I can't understand the mentality. I just can't. Something might seem hard, even impossible, but you try for it anyway, and maybe you end up failing, but you come closer than you ever thought you could anyway. And that in itself is worth it. That trying anyway, that's worth it. That's what it's all about, Greg, everything. Saying, "I can't climb Everest, so I might as well not climb this hill in front of me," - that'd ridiculous. And cowardly. Makes a waste of everything. You certainly didn't learn that philosophy from me.
Well, you don't! You're alive, Greg. You've got people who care about you, despite the bullshit you've put them through. You've got a good job - the job you said you wanted. And your leg might hurt you, but you've still got it at least.
Don't tell me what I would do in your situation. I know it's not easy, I do. But you can't let it be everything. I wouldn't, were I in your place, and if I did, I certainly wouldn't ask you to let me wallow in peace. I don't ask anyone to overlook my faults or shortcomings. I do ask for respect and decency, especially from you, since you are my son, and that's how it works. It's not a relationship of equals, Greg, it's a hierarchical relationship, but one that's supposed to function for both men, and... You've just never let that happen.
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Don't you dare suggest that I disrespect your mother. I'm simply aware that she has a hard time letting go of her image of you as her little baby boy. You're her only child - of course she does. And if it makes her happy to hold onto that, then so be it. I just wish you wouldn't make that so difficult. If you called her more often, or acted even slightly happy to see her when she make an effort to go up and visit you - that might help.
Or is that asking too much?
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It wouldn't matter what I did, Dad. It'd never be good enough. It'd never be right. So, why should I bother pleasing you, when I know I'd never be able to, anyway?
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I'm pretty sure if the shoe was on the other foot, you'd expect me to be a lot more forgiving of you than you are of me.
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Don't tell me what I would do in your situation. I know it's not easy, I do. But you can't let it be everything. I wouldn't, were I in your place, and if I did, I certainly wouldn't ask you to let me wallow in peace. I don't ask anyone to overlook my faults or shortcomings. I do ask for respect and decency, especially from you, since you are my son, and that's how it works. It's not a relationship of equals, Greg, it's a hierarchical relationship, but one that's supposed to function for both men, and... You've just never let that happen.
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