While you make such a big deal about me not speaking with you or your wife, I don't remember the last time you tried to know anything about me either. You never let me keep anything that brought me joy. You let your sister and your wife disrespect my space and things, and throw out sentimental items from dead relatives...

I'm 31 now. And while I think I'm always going to be a bit angry about how you treated all of us, that mostly has to do with the fact that I'm finally able to be a parent who protects my kid, even from "family"... And eventually the oldest will come to know the truth and for his sake, I hope you do more for both my children than you ever did for your own.

So, as a grown child, I'll likely never forgive you for everything, but as a parent, I'll never understand you for any of it, and I don’t think I will ever not place blame on you for why I fled. You didn’t give me the safety of staying.

I don't hate you, I'm just disappointed you never seem like you want to be in our lives. I miss who I thought you were, the man my childlike self painted to everyone else when he wasn’t yelling or worse. I wished you could have loved me the way your father did. I wish grandpas never died. Sometimes I feel like the wrong father died and I’ve come to realize that’s no fault of my own, but yours.

I know you float around on reddit, so if you see this, I sincerely hope you get professional help because I have and I started that journey back up again(turns out it’s not normal to get car sick from anxiety), and I want you to be better than who you were. No more empty promises with sad faces that disappear two minutes later. I want better for you than what you showed me. You can thank your ex-wife for how much I am willing to forgive you, even though she wants to put you down with a frying pan. She thanks you for giving me your humor, if nothing else, at least I can make her laugh again.

(This was recommended to do to let off steam without confronting. Thank you for being my lonely audience. May you have a day you deserve💕 this was also flagged on the “other” sub because I used the word man [facepalm] so I came here after too many hoops lol)