I have two brothers and three sisters, and it finally dawned on me, my Mother adores her sons and competes with her daughters.

She didn't mind using us, but she clearly shows favoritism to her boys. And the funny part is their wives can barely stand her. And the less my Brothers want to do with her, the closer she tries to get.

For years and years, she worked to cause dissension between us all. Since recognizing how she tried to get us all to fight, we finally said: "Stop it".

She no longer talks to any of us girls. And although we love our Mother, we have accepted it and have gotten a lot closer as siblings. We have even gotten to know our Aunts and cousins, whom she isolated us from. She treated our Grandmother badly too, and we barely knew her.

So from her bad example, we have found a great future.

L.