Asklemmy

Yes. I grew up that way. In the rural midwest, raised by a single hyper religious mother who probably has some sort of mental thing. She just completely turned herself off from pop culture. I think the latest movie she watched was made in the 60s, and I was born in the nineties. I grew up not knowing any movies, movies stars, music, or anything.

It hurt me deeply because all of my friends would talk about new movies and their favorite actors, and I had to learn how to fake it. They would say did you see so and so and I'd chuckle like I knew who they were talking about.

I remember one birthday asking her for movies, just any popular movies, I didn't even know what to ask for. She got me three, and I remember the newest made one was Tora Tora Tora! Admittedly a decent film, but I was so hurt by it, made decades before my time. What middle school friend would want to come over and watch it with me?

Only as an adult did I realize it wasn't anything like age ratings or holding me back for religion, she truly had shut herself off from the world. She wants absolutely nothing to do with the world. When I got into Lord of the rings finally I watched the films, and read the books cover to cover multiple times and loved them. I carried them around school, had every line memorized (and still watch them annually). I wanted so badly to share them with someone, and asked her so many times to watch them with me, but she never once did. Doesn't even know the plot.

Eventually I just gave up. Christmas a couple years ago I had pirates of the Caribbean on in the background just while cooking and she asked us to turn it off because it was "too scary". I didn't know how to respond to it. I just... Turned it off. She then sat playing on her phone while we all just did things quietly.

When I met my now spouse we started watching everything. I watched braveheart and gladiator within the last couple of years. Big film buff now, and love following actors careers and comparing performances. Its a ton of fun!

I'm apathetic towards my mother for a lot of reasons, but I don't think she fully knows how much she hurt our relationship with it. There's a lot more, but you have to show an interest in what your children like. She didn't. If she didn't understand it or she if it didn't involve her, she would walk out of the room. Now she wonders why we don't get together often, or why I don't talk much to her. I've gone to sewing things with her, quilting, other things trying to reach out to her and express interest in what she likes, but it never went reciprocated, so the branch has withered.

She's always welcome for movie night though.

Thanks for reading