It sounds like your mother never really established her own identity and was a needy person. She probably didn't have good parenting herself so she didn't know how to be a good parent to you. It sounds like she is being "dependent" on you in a role reversal, you providing attention to her in a kind of parenting way, something she never grew out of "needing" in her life.

To understand "your troubled roots" you need to see hers, it's always there.