I wrote about six thousand words this morning at 5am about seeing your family for who they are and asking that they see you in return. I don’t think I can publish any of it even though it is a very raw piece of writing.
Today is my father’s 80th Birthday. He’s a rare early Boomer from the Silent Generation and he had me later in life with his second wife my mother.
I’ve got a lot of feelings about our relationship. I love my father. Like all of us, he has committed many sins, some of them against me. I have committed many sins against him. We are bound by an elaborate set piece of inter-generational trauma that has shaped us for good and ill.
I am bound by my familial duty to respect and honor the sacrifices he made. I am here to celebrate his life. But my feelings on it are more than I could articulate today and believe me I have tried.
It is my most solemn wish for his birthday that he finds forgiveness for himself as he did absolutely everything he could and I’ll forever be grateful that I was given these rare gifts.