Fathers' Day [View all]

I'm not celebrating.

It's not because my father passed six years ago.

I wasn't celebrating when he was alive as well.

My father was abusive, toxic, and an authoritarian. I was defiant and stood up to him and paid the price. My sister was 180 degrees and sucked up to him, if only for fear, esp. as she saw the treatment I got. I went to therapy for 3-1/2 years and still had malingering issues concerning him.

I was the one of three children who stayed close to where he lived until the end of his life, if only for the duty to our late mother, to make sure he was okay.

He disinherited all of us at the end. He showed more affection for the neighbor across the street than he did for any of us, including our sister.

The trauma must be equally deep in our sister. In denial. She posted on FB: "Forever loved, not forgotten." I can only endorse the second part.