He became the narcotic that dulled my pain,

I was that to him as well,

I was his mother after all,

And we had a soothing effect upon each other –

The degree of the soothing

Now reflected in the degree of my distress.

My tongue-in-cheek counselor friend tells me:

The child’s job is to nurture the parents,

And the parents’ job is to nurture the child’s independence.

We did our jobs well … but if it were really a “job,”

It wouldn’t hurt so much.