35 Years Later My Father Reaches Out. [View all]

[Inkfreak]

Last week was 35 years on Earth. Short time to some but it's been a bit of a haul for me. I celebrated it as I like to do. Low key. My wife makes me a pie because I hate cake and we usually have a quiet dinner at home. I had keylime pie this year and it was so freaking good...crumbly graham cracker crust..omg.

And midway thru the day I saw a Facebook notification from my deadbeat dad. A friend request. He divorced my mother 33 years ago and aside from a phone call and a Christmas present when I was 5, I've heard nothing from the man. Not a dime. Not a letter. Nothing. We lived in NY and he started a new family in Tx.

My default position is always this. My Mom did a great job raising me and I'm a better man for it. She's proud of me & I make sure to give all credit to her. It was hard for her raising us alone. Unfair & difficult. But as a kid I just wanted a Dad, ya know? I wanted to have that connection that I saw on tv or at a friends house. It made me angry & sad that he wanted nothing to so with me. His only son.

So I denied his friend request. Fuck him. 35 years late. I'm not interested in him. His one gift to me is that I know if I have I child, he will be loved.