I know what you're saying, Sannah. But you didn't know my mother. She absolutely loved me! But I agree that I missed something because she was so anxious. I think it's the calm, peace, SAFETY I missed. Also, we weren't a demonstrative family, so love was expressed more by concern and action than by exchange of feelings. I usually hid my feelings from my parents. I didn't confide in my Mom. I didn't know how, or I didn't want to worry her, or I was just too shy. A combination. But I remember we had a thing about rubbing noses like the Eskimos, for a time when I was a child, and calling each other "little (not sure of the word) and big". So I remember that as a close connection, but I think it changed around age 11.