Ok... you've got me thinking hard here...

Not much I could do to change things up to the time I became a teenager.

1. Rather than rebel so strongly against my mother, I would have done as she asked and at least given some effort to "becoming friends" with her.

2. I would have spent some more alone time with my aunt. Instead of going off to boarding school, I would have asked to spend a summer with her... without the grandmother.

Both are impossible now. So... meet new people? I have a neighbor whom I've grown to care for. She's suffered abuse all her life and the last stint was at the hands of one of her daughters. I've been encouraging her to stop the abuse. She goes to a day care center for seniors and has shared that abuse with her case worker there. She's received a visit from a couple of men from Elder Abuse.

Most of the time I can set my resentment aside because I can't get a word in edgewise as far as life stories go. There have been times I felt like hugging her but haven't. I'll follow my insticts next time.

I'm having trouble with the relationship my best friend and I have. I'll get to work on that.

How's that for starters?

Perna, thank you so much for starting this thread! What a positive thing to do!