My Mother's jewlery is missing.

Dad told me about it the other day. He thinks it might be locked in a footlocker in the attic, with a bunch of other stuff on top of it.

This would not be a surprise. Not too long ago, my nephew was in the throes of his crack additction, and would steal anything that wasn't nailed down...and pry it up if it was. He'd stole most of my sister's jewelry, so my Mother may have thought it best to lock up her jewlery.

Or, my sister got in there, or sent her husband or one of her kids, over to take it.

She believes herself to be the only daughter. She believes herself entitled to everything my parents have. She believes that because I left home to get some peace of mind that I am not entitled to anything.

But if I were a male child, there wouldn't be any problem with this. I could come and go as I please.

What is it with matriarchal families that expect all the female children to hover around their mothers and never establish lives for themselves? What is it in matriarchal homes where they encourage the women to live thru the men and be servants to the parents?

There is alot of lip service to the "old ways" of family life--of never leaving the nest, giving up on one's dreams, supporting the parents by sacrificing one's adult life for them.

There is a strain of thought that says parents have children and sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice for them. To give the children A Better Life. But is this always true? If parents deny their children the encouragement to gain a better education; if parents decide who the child should be according to their own unachieved or failed dreams; if the parents passive-aggressively control the adult lives of their children with money and denials of affection, is this truthfully sacrificing for the child?

No, this is just perpetuation of a status quo.

I hope my Mother's jewelry is in that footlocker. I do not want to have a confrontation with a sister, who is emotionally unstable and quite possibly deteriorating each day Mom inches closer to shucking this mortal coil.

I am more than likely to walk away from the situation. Leave it all to my sister. Money doesn't make one happy, I always think. It helps, but it isn't everything.

And Lucky Bastard, a man of much in the way of material, believes I should fight. "She's your Mother, too. Don't give up everything to your sister. That's not right."

But how to fight? And is it worth it?