my mom was pretty fuct up when i was a kid. she beat me & my brother with a leather belt (or whatever was handy atm) for the smallest things, like spilling a glass of milk, whatever. dumb shit. my bro & i grew to hate her.
well finally i got some therapy & mom got better, too after a quadruple bypass! (plus being several states away didn't hurt
). i learned it was easiest to try to understand & let go of the past.
now i mostly talk to my mom on yahoo messenger! haha she is too cheap to make long distance calls, so i call once in a blue moon. my dad is mostly quiet & doesn't say a lot, but once in a while he & i will have a good chat when i phone them.
i visit them about every other year. and until my grandmother became ill & dependent on them, they did visit us every year.