My mother and I have always been so much alike, so we are always at war. Not in any major way, but we butt heads more than we should.
I see many benefits to our relationship though. She has never been an emotional person. Only in the past couple of years, has she told me that she loves me, and before then, I found it hard to say those words to anyone else. Believe it or not, this is a quality which I am glad to have gotten from her. Neither of us are swayed easily by emotions. We are both logical thinkers, which I suppose, can be construed as negative, but so far the quality has served me well in life. On the reverse side, she has also taught me how to treat the people you love. She and my father still take showers together and are openly affectionate (without being gross ). This is mostly as a result of her capacity to love. Without her loving disposition, that side of my father may never have come out. She truly brings the loving side out of all of us.
She also represents many things I dislike about people, which has served as a benefit to me, since I learn from her faults and try my best not to develop her traits. Through her mistakes, I've learnt how to be considerate and kind to people around me and also keep an open mind about everything, sans judgement. I've also learned how to take some risks in my life, something which she has always been averse to.
No matter how many confrontations we have had though, she really did her best with us, and as I said before, I've learned from her faults, which have made me a better person in the end, I think