Reply #21: My folks loved me, and still do today.

[Akoto]

They worked harder than I can ever know to provide me with a good childhood, and though we never had it great, I know that my youth was much better for their efforts than many others in the world had. I wasn't always the ideal child, but they gave me the freedom to be my own person, to make my own political and religious decisions.

I ended up disabled with chronic pain, and they continue to support me now that I've lost my ability to work. I never made it out of the household. Caring for me is a job I can never adequately thank them for, but I have yet to hear a complaint. Truth be told, relying upon my parents at age twenty-five is deeply humiliating, but they won't hear anything of it. Sometimes, shit just happens in life, says my mother.