Fio's Parents were Wonderful, But....

Fiorella loved Latin and her Latin teacher, so when she got a 98 1/2, the highest grade in her class, on her final exam, accompanied by a complimentary note from Miss Osborn, she was high as a kite. But when she showed the exam off to her parents, her father (who'd failed first grade) looked it over, gave her a loving smile, and said, "Why didn't you make 100?"
     Fio, of course, was crushed, but it was typical of her parents' reactions to her scholarly achievements. They meant well, she knows--they didn't want her have a "big head"--but it also ripped her self-confidence.
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Fiorella didn't get very many spankings, but when she entered her teen years, her mother switched  her instrument from her hand to a wooden yardstick. Fio, of course, would run to the other side of her bed to try to get away, but Mom would corner her and get in several good whacks,.
     Strangely enough, after Mother hit Fio, she'd always say "Stop crying--that didn't hurt!"
     But it did, in more ways than one.
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Your girl can't remember Dad paddling her on his own, but Mom sent him after her a couple of times, and he had a better arm than she did. The one Fio most remembers was when, instead of coming when Mother called, she'd yelled out "Just a minute," and turned another page of the book she was reading.
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The worst of this is that Fio knows her kids can also tell horror stories about her and their father. Fiorella's parents were actually very loving, and she herself wanted to be the best mother in the world, but parents are people, and nobody is perfect.
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Why is Fio telling you all this? Because it's part of her life, and she doesn't want to take anything with her when she flies off into the wild blue yonder.