Hi Nancy, yes, I totally agree. I am the youngest of 5 and while all my siblings and I can admit that our house got a little crazy at times and we certainly dealt with our fair share of alcoholism, dysfunction, etc., there is ONE sister (the one just above me) who has embellished the 'horrors' of our childhood and things that we all laughed about but that she is in therapy for! Her version is so completely off the charts and she blames every negative aspect of her life on my mother - from her failed first marriage to her currently failING marriage, to her own difficult child's difficult child-ness. I mean, it's crazy. She can't understand why none of us want to go visit her...it's to the point where it simply isn't enjoyable anymore. And if you try to help her in any way, she will tell you why that won't work and becomes very irate. There is no point.
Suz, I am aware that the original comments made by Rosie had nothing to do with her childhood and it was about her difficult child-ness. I probably shouldn't have even responded to this original post, knowing how anything Rosie just sends me over the edge - lol. I'm sorry if what I said offended some of you.
And, Nancy, you're right, her parents did the best they could with what they knew at the time. Just like everyone else's.