I’m always heartbroken hearing about your abusive, alcoholic, narcissistic father, Autisteuse.
I say that not to guilt you into speaking less of him (heavens, no—if anything I hope it’s healing for you), but just to express how sorry I am that that was your childhood, and that it became your adulthood.
My sister is four years older than me, and when college time came about she FLOCKED to a Boston school as soon as the semester began, while I was stuck in high school with my mama and father—who loves me to the ends of the
bleeping earth but has a hot temper and an even hotter slapping hand. When I wept to my sister at some point about having him for a father, she firmly told me, amongst other things, that “This is the hand we were dealt. But it doesn’t have to be the hand we keep.” My point: we can change our realities despite the hardship, and I say that to
EVERYONE in this thread—contributors, lurkers and all.
You can change what doesn’t serve you.
Autisteuse, I’m just so blessed that, despite still living with your abuser and dealing with his irrational chaos, you’ve nonetheless carved out an extravagant life for yourself of knowledge, pleasure, talent, and love. Had you never spoken a word about the abusive people in your life in these threads I would have NEVER in a million years guessed that you hailed from those backgrounds of torture.
I applaud you, I am amazed by you, and I honor you.