My crazy family would make a soap opera look boring. I had to deal with the over-demanding sensitivities, the "triangling", the drama sessions. It was my mother crying to me about my father, my father crying to me about my mother, but neither one of 'em willing to lift a finger to fix their _own_ issues.
All that made for a _short_ childhood. I was the only grown-up in the family for as far back as I can remember. The good news is that being responsible for myself and being a good listener comes natural after all the "training".
What I did to protect myself from their insanity was to establish "counseling fees". I realized that a shrink make 150 bucks an hour to do what I was doing for free, which is listen to a couple drunks whine about their own decisions. So I started asking for 150 bucks up front, cash, or come back when you got the money.
Yeah, they got all huffy at first, and I actually made a couple hundred bucks the first few times. But then they quit, and the silence was _heavenly_.
I know today that I am _not_ a shrink, or a crisis line, or a palm reader. If people want me to provide such services they're gonna have to go find somebody else who is licensed to do that, cuz it aint' me.
Wabbit, you done way good. You should be proud of yourself
Mike