by Mary Carey | Jul 16, 2023 | dysfunctional family, empathy, family, narcissism, narcissistic extension, Shame
I cried at golf camp this week. I wasn’t in front of anyone. I was in the cart, heading home, and the tears just flowed. To be clear, I signed up for this camp. I wanted to attend. The instructors were very kind and helpful. My fellow attendees, there were eight of...
by Mary Carey | Jun 27, 2023 | Compassion, connection, death, empathy
When I was nineteen years old, my family traveled to California to attend my cousin’s wedding. We made a vacation out of the trip, driving the Pacific Coast Highway and visited various attractions. One of those attractions was a casino in Reno, Nevada. I was shocked...
by Mary Carey | Jun 11, 2023 | Compassion, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA
Before we adopted, we had to go through a home study with a social worker. She asked us how we would tell our sons they were adopted. We asked what she recommended, and her response intrigued me. She said, “a child should never remember the day they...
by Mary Carey | May 23, 2023 | empathy, friend, friends, friendship
My college offered a class called Group Dynamics. As the name implies, it was the study of behavior of individuals, while in a group. I never took the class, but several members of my sorority did. Our Monday evening meetings were essentially their homework. If you...
by Mary Carey | May 15, 2023 | anger, cancer, dysfunctional family, dysregulation, family, parenting
It wasn’t until college that I realized it was kind of strange to hate your parents. I didn’t understand the students who were homesick. Even after a year of being exposed to people who spoke fondly about their parents, I couldn’t fully absorb the idea of...