my careless contagion

My parents spent the last two months in Florida. Every time they come back, I'm filled with dread. It's hard to explain. Perhaps this article can speak for me.  They come back, and I try to find a place to hide. But there is nowhere to hide. I even had a dream the day after they came back that I was a fugitive and they couldn't find me. No one could find me. I simply ran away and hid.  I can't explain to most people what it was like growing up in my house. They don't have the ability to understand. And, yes, I know memories are not always to be trusted. But the feeling I get when I see someone is something I can trust. And with them, it's fear and loathing. This should not be.  As the above article states, it's best to sever all ties with narcissistic parents. They cannot change. This has become one of the biggest reasons why I don't want to live here anymore. That's sad.  There are some things other people will never understand. They...

Recently, I came across the term "echoism," which is described more in-depth in an article here (originally from a post on themighty.com) than I can get into. The article hit home for me; maybe I could even see myself reflected in it. Heh. Most people know the story of Narcissus and Echo, so I won't touch on that, but I will state that every Narcissus needs an Echo, and vice versa. The post on themighty.com focuses on narcissistic parents, which if I think about it long enough, I can say that at least one of them deserves that label, while the other one could be categorized as fragile (or a fragile narcissist). It's possible both could take that title, though. I'm not really concerned about making that declaration, especially because the Bible tells us to honor our father and mother, with the promise of having a long life. Honestly, though, I'm not interested in having a long life, so who cares? I think one of my brothers probably qualifies as a narcis...