As I was standing in the infernal, hellish, diabolical, idiot long line this morning (read story below), I was waiting behind a mother and her (about 13-year-old) daughter.
No problem so far, right?, except for the annoying wait. Well the frustrated sociologist in me proceeded to observe the mother/daughter interaction directly in front of me:
They stood, face to face, about 8 inches apart. Every 60 seconds or so (I counted, really!) the mom gave her girl a rapid series of little "kissies" on the forehead. The daughter and the mom had their hands on one another's shoulders. They would play with each other's hair, stroke each other's cheeks, play with each other's fingers.
Periodically, they would envelope each other in huge embraces. You know, the kind you'd give a spouse who'd been away in Antarctica for 10 years, dying of hypothermia.
'
They held hands, they played patty-cake. Mom had to fix the girl's hair at least 3 times. Lots of giggling. They even went to the "little girls' room" together (of course). This went on for over an hour.
At this point I was getting testy. OK, I'll admit it: I wanted TO PUKE. I was going to scream, "Have you ever heard of the term 'CO-DEPENDENT'?" "ENOUGH, ALREADY! Stop it NOW before you screw up this kid's head forever." There will surely be a therapist somewhere here in Oaxaca who will CASH IN big-time on the neuroses of this young lady in about 6 years. About the time she realizes that it's time to move out of mommy's house. "Ever heard of individuation, honey?"
Freud would have a field day. For me, too much sugar makes me sick to my stomach.
