[revwardoc]

You're right about that, plus George considered his mother to be one "royal" pain-in-the-butt. In 1747 George decided to follow his older half-brother, Lawrence, into the British navy and purchased a commission as an ensign. When Mary found out, she went into hysterics and feigned a near death illness forcing George to abandon his plans. When George was named Commander in Chief of the fledgling American army, she told him, ad nauseum, that he was a traitor to King and country. When they more or less reconciled and Mary moved in with George and Martha, she was still an embarrassment to him. She would often be seen sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of Mt. Vernon, with a pipe held between her toothless gums (sort of an 18th century Mammy Yokum). She would also spit tobacco juice on the porch and insult visitors with her uncouth mannerisms. But George was stuck with her and, while you're supposed to love your mother, nothing says you have to like her.