NYC bound

My parents treat me a whole lot better these days. My mother recently found a poem I wrote dedicated to her and she told me the reason she did not hang it up was because she felt like she didn't deserve it. She said she knows things were bad. This is the first acknowledgment I have gotten from her regarding our problematic past. I didn't continue the subject, because I think she genuinely feels bad and I didn't want to make her feel any worse. Despite everything that happened, I love her and would like to have a better mother/daughter relationship now that I am all grown up and out of their house.

I am going into NYC this week to visit my aunt. She is going to take me shopping for a birthday present, as my birthday is this month. I am going to get a manicure/pedicure and we are going to go out to dinner. After dinner, we are going to go on a cruise that will take us by the Statue of Liberty and will have live music. It should be fun. I am very grateful that my aunt invited me to visit.