You are not alone...While my story is much different than yours in some ways, I too experienced a TOTAL lack of encouragement and was otherwise disregarded in my family...I have recently gotten my Master's degree and only recently has my father said word of praise and encouragement to me. Recently in T I was going over this, and the fact that I wasn't assumed to be precious as a child and loved despite my imperfections. I just found myself saying over and over "would it have been so hard?" My interactions with my parents are less than encouraging in this arena...in fact, they continue to be rather infuriating...But they were wrong about me all along anyway...

Putting the pieces together is painful...

Rapunzel