Mother of all OCD

Credit: Louise Ortega

My mother has OCD. This made for a fraught childhood. Sensitive children and an OCD parent are a match made in hell.

Dissent was never allowed. Dissent included putting the fork back in the drawer with the tines facing downwards. It was not hanging a towel folded exactly the right way or stepping on a rug and leaving a footprint. Dissent meant standing up and not smoothing the sofa cushions exactly just so before you left the…