Second in Command

As the oldest of six children, I was my mother’s “second in command.” I folded laundry, dusted and vacuumed, changed diapers, helped with dinner, and washed dishes. And of course, I babysat. There was a kind of unspoken agreement between my mother and me – in exchange for my assistance, she gave me a relationship with her that was closer, more intimate, than what she gave my siblings. Perhaps we were too close.

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