My mother endured some extremely traumatic events in her life (long before I was born) and as a result has suffered from severe PTSD for the entirety of my life. She is prone to panic and anxiety attacks, especially in response to certain places (notably hospitals and elevators/other claustrophobia-inducing spaces) and images. Physical contact also induced these attacks.

For most of my childhood my dad was very good at helping her calm down when one of the attacks hit, but throughout my youth and early adolescence, I remember my dad hustling us out of parties/plays/other events midway through after seeing cues from my mom.

The real shocker came when I was about 14 or 15. My parents and I were going to drive a few hours to Los Angeles in order to visit some extended family (a fairly regular thing for us), but my dad got put on a business assignment out of the country and had to leave without much warning, so my mom decided we'd fly rather than drive (~1 hour flight; cost around 75 bucks each).

My mom was stopped for a search in airport security and became extremely agitated, eventually culminating in a full blown anxiety attack--yelling, crying, and finally just grabbing me and taking us back to our car. We sat by the car for about an hour while she decompressed enough to safely drive us home.

The whole thing really changed my views on both my parents; I finally put together all the pieces of the puzzle. For the first time, I understood why my mom went outside to cry (with my dad following to help) 15 minutes into watching the Hurt Locker. Why we'd always had a dog, despite my dad being somewhat allergic to fur. Why my mom wasn't able to spend time with my dad in the hospital when he had a cancerous growth removed when I was 10. Why my mom had never really been able to have a stable social circle, aside from a few very old friends whose relationship with her was never explained.