Looks like not being in regular touch with the family has meant that I've gotten soft and lost my usual alertness for the tactics they use -- end result, I was completely unprepared and unprotected when my mother suddenly launched a couple of missiles.

I'll take it as progress though that it's taken me only over an hour to realize that I *could* (in some alternate universe) have other responses to them than keeling over nauseated.

The silver lining is that for once, I am rather grateful (than annoyed) for current T's high emotional reactivity -- while I sit nauseated, she somehow unfailingly manages to come up with a pitch-perfect sarcastic description of all things mother.