It could be because we watched Law and Order SVU’s season premier in all it’s stereotypical multiple personality murderous evil alter and faker glory- the caveat being we watched it with the mother in a hotel room the night before her numerous doctor appointments simply because we forgot to prepare the taping of it before we left our home that night.
It could be because the mother was clueless at first about what was going on and so we explained it was stereotypical mp and here’s the child, that’s the teen, that’s the protector. Not really speaking to her after explaining that it was mp, but mostly speaking softly aloud to ourselves in exasperation at the flagrant dramatized stereotypes.
It could be because Dr. Huang (on SVU) provided the reminder to the mother and educational information that DID is caused by trauma, particularly sexual abuse. The psychological community perspective that is. And the thing (sexual abuse and DID) that isn’t discussed between us but known very well between us. The tension and uncomfortableness in the air was so icky.
It could be because we were essentially trapped in this hotel room with the mother and torn between wanting to watch it, albeit the stereotypes, because we forgot to tape it and now the mother was interested in watching it as well. Strangely though she fell asleep halfway through it and wanted to know the outcome of it in the morning.
It could be because this past Tuesday we informed the mother that we had reached the top of the waiting list for a low-income apt in the ‘big city’ and to expect a possible reference check since we have lived with her in the past 5 years. Thankfully though for almost a year we’ve been on our own in a suburb about 20 minutes away from her.