CP -- I love it when I read someone's thoughts on things like this... feelings i thought I was isolated with, only to realize that it's not all that uncommon to feel jaded about card shopping when things aren't as peachy keen. I probably read too much into what's being said in the card, but for a while there, I couldn't buy a card that said how much my mom did for me, especially when I was the one raising my sisters. Bitterness doesn't make for good card shopping.
I love that you love your mom and respect the choices she made, even though you may not have made you happy. Sometimes moms don't bake cookies for when you come home after school, and sometimes they don't shop or lunch with you. Sometimes you don't talk to them on the phone every day, or every-other day, at 6:45.
For those aforementioned "rough years," I often went for the funny card, because it hurt to much to sift through the mushy ones. I'm just so thankful that my relationship with my mom has grown, and grown stronger...
Thanks for writing that!