This day comes to be bittersweet. Today 10 years ago was the last time I saw my Father alive. I will never forget our day, and our fights we had that day. We parted so upset with each other that we were on a non-speaking basis. Then I get a call from my Aunt Donna who brings my Mother over to my house to tell me the bad news. He’s had a massive heart attack and he died. A small part of my being always held that shame that it was my fault he’s gone, that I was the one that broke the camels back. It never occurred to me his father died when he was 20 from heart disease, and his father before him. Through the years after that that shame and guilt took over me and put me in very bad situations for nearly a decade. It wasn’t a few years after his death my pain of losing my Father became pure knock down hatred and anger. It’s been that way for years. I hated him, because I started blaming him for all the difficulties in my life. For all my destruction, trying to replace him with men who would just use me and beat me, suck me dry and leave me (except of that was Jason, and I wouldd tell him my fears that by the time we got married my Father would be gone, I was right). I blamed him for ever tear since he died. I hated him for the life that he wasn’t there to save me from, consciously knowing he couldn’t save me. He was DEAD, gone, and not coming back. My whole life the only one that ever took care of me was myself. My Mother and I didn’t have the Mother/Daughter bond that some kids who are adopted never have. It wasn’t that case with my Father.
He was a hard working man. The most hard working man I’ve ever seen my whole life. No man could ever fill his shoes. When my Mother started dated her “special friend”, I despised him. He wasn’t anything like my Father. Who was this man that put a twinkle in my Mother’s eye, who treated her in a way Dad never did. I went into denial about this man who spent MY time with the Mother. Time she should have been spending with me, but I never could let that twinkle in her eye go. This was one she’s never had before. She was never funny, and make me laugh all the time. Of course I thought it was because of ME but the place I was in was nothing even close to being a twinkle in any Mother’s eye. It was something that a Mother would hide and sweep under the rug. It seemed like everyone had forgotten about me. Mom was healing, everyone else close to Dad was healing except me.
This year, I think I’m finally healing. Not only healing from a painful path, or the horrible things I went to, but healing. I’m more or less angry about them all right now. Isn’t that the second step that comes after denial? I think so. I’m getting there. And It’s been all by myself. All my myself was the first sentence I said when I was a baby. So far it’s been true, up until now, when I’ve had to lean on my husband more than ever. That was another teaching and learning experience that I fought for years. Now I know it’s ok to learn on your spouse. I know he leans on me quite a bit. It’s ok for us to lean on each other equally.
So now I’ve come ten fold. I’m finally “growing up” as they might say. I don’t have only me to be When Brendan woke up this morning I was surprised by my Valentine’s day Presents. This is the second holiday holiday we’ve managed to get each other something.
That necklace is a deep blue heart. It’s beautiful. The other night he told me he loves holidays now. He never had traditional holidays and I’m born from and my roots are full of deep traditions that I use to dispise until I got married. Then I started thinking, what do I want my kids to have? I want them to have what I did. I want them surrounded by family. On holidays I want to be surrounded by family. Not family that just put up with you because you were present, but true loving family (in my world, my friends are family too, no doubt.) Family is who loves you. That’s what I want to be around. I wished we could have gone to Fort Knox this weekend if Brendan didn’t have to work, and if we would have planned it a little better. Anyway, I got Brendan a really nice watch this Valentine’s Day. It’s one of those that never needs the battery changed and I don’t want to give it all away if he reads this from work (guess I sort of did already). More to come later.
Plus, I feel asleep writing this post or about 6 hours. My new desk is just too comfortable. I love it to death.
