Des, I hope this makes sense. You have lived your life determined to be different then how you were raised. The best revenge is to do well, you did not deserve your mother, no child does. And sadly yes, there are millions of mothers out there who hate and torture their children. I am seeing it talked about more and more. I have been with an 80 year old friend a lot lately and her mother was a barbaric person... I won't mention but it is as old as time. Cherish those babies and know they have only one childhood and one mother.