Gee--sounds like you dated my mom!:floorlaugh: My wonderful mother would bait me, insult me, be rude to me until I exploded with profanity, then she would cower and act like I was beating her with a baseball bat. Just for fun. I never knew which woman I'd be meeting--the happy, magnanimous, fun loving lady or the witch. She provokes my little brother much the same way. Their particular abuse is so evil because it makes the victims look crazy, abusive and cruel--when it is actually the BPD's who are the bad guys.
I had to cut off all contact 5 years ago when she started to manipulate my small children--sorry mother--you may not torment and abuse my children. And I just ran out of energy having 3 small kids and having to deal with my mother's constant need for attention.
I have only recently begun to be able to think about my mother without feeling overwhelming rage--that is a hallmark of victims of these people. They always look innocent and sane while the victims are perceived as "abusers." Travis' reaction to JA's abusive manipulations was not over the top to me--I've been in his shoes.
My mother NEVER respected any boundaries I tried to set. Being intruded on and disregarded and run over by these people is crazy-making. They lie, they manipulate and they are always looking to cause a reaction in the people around them just to alleive their emptiness.
Wow--sorry for the novel!