Whenever I try to tell Mom about anything happening in my life, she dismisses it because she can’t connect with it or has the patience to listen to me explain its significance. Over time, I realised that it makes her feel vulnerable that, as my mother, she has nothing to offer me to guide my life and career. I am playing a different game from the one she conquered. Guidance is not required of her anymore; I want an empathetic ear, but she doesn’t have the maturity and self-awareness to understand that this bothers her when I talk about my life. It hurts her ego that she is not directly responsible for what I put my energy into. So, she always brings the conversation back to where she is strongest, my lack of husband and family (at the ripe old age of 30, I hasten to remind readers).