Is my mother narcissistic or what?!

I do love my mother and have debated whether or not to share this as I don't want to dishonor her. But, after further thought, I honestly believe she'd be honored that her name is out there and people are talking about her.

I have so many accounts to share in my long 38 year relationship with my mother, whom I will call "Phyllis" for purposes of this commentary. I will give just a small potpourri of four accounts and if you desire more, you can provoke me accordingly.

Let's start with social media. Yes that's right, Phyllis is on Facebook (YAY!). Without fail, whenever my wife or I post something about our children or a picture, she will make posts like, "No wonder they are great artists, I'm their Nana!" or "Of course they are beautiful kids. I'm their Nana! Guess how old I am!"

Then there are the inappropriate and rather uncomfortable moments of introduction to newbies. Phyllis will brag on herself for a few minutes and instead of asking them about themselves, she will say, "I know I'm his mother, but I bet you can't guess how old I am!"

Or how about those moments when you're praying for Phyllis to be on her best behavior and just be quiet, like when our 10 year old daughter was in the Children's Hospital fighting brain cancer. She just couldn't help herself. Whenever any doctor, nurse or new face would walk into our daughter's hospital room, Phyllis would start by first introducing herself as the "Beautiful and young-looking Nana of the patient, who was so fortunate to have been named after her Nana." Then she began her interrogation, "Guess how old I am!" She wouldn't miss a beat and one doctor actually asked me if I wanted security to remove her. (No kidding!)

Finally, for a well-rounded expose, we have to look at voluntary charitable work. Phyllis does love to give back as she grew up in poverty. The only problem is she thinks she is the "star of the show". For instance, she has no problem whatsoever announcing to everyone within earshot that she has contributed to the efficiencies of the organization because of "all the work SHE has done." Apparently, Phyllis never heard the expression, "There is no I in TEAM!" If someone in the organization makes a counter comment to difuse the extreme awkwardness of the moment, she'll run over to them, give them a bear hug (I refer to this as Phyllis' captive audience) and says to them, "Guess how old I am!"

In closing, I do love Phyllis and wish her the best. For all those out there that think I should confront her about the matter at hand - I have; many times in fact. Just last week when she made a self-centered comment, I said,"Mom, that was very narcissistic!" Her response (and, I kid you not) was, "Oh Honey, thank you for referring to your mother as a beautiful flower of the Greek gods!" I said, "Mom, that's not what I meant." She responded, "Oh Sweetheart, that's besides the point. Doesn't your mother look great for her age? Guess how old I am!"