Blood and water

My mother sent me an email last friday asking about Apple hardware. Sunday night she called me since I hadn’t responded to it yet. The conversation grew into an argument. She cried and eventually we parted ways. She feels so clingy. She says she’d call every day but doesn’t since she believes that I would exact some kind of punishment for that. Why can’t she be more like my sister? We go for the better part of a year without talking. I think what really set off the whole thing is when I told her I’d start ignoring her calls if she doesn’t back off.

I really don’t want to just chit-chat with my mother. I don’t understand what she wants from me. She hasn’t been this needy in the recent past. It’s really driven home the fact that I don’t understand the difference between family and friends. It feels like the only difference is genetics and the legal liability that comes with being family. Sometimes I wish family would come and go the way friends do. Am I the only person who has ever wanted to be alone, or at least among strangers?