Father's Day and parenthood.

I carried my father to his grave 6 years ago. Although the pain of it has dulled somewhat, I still continue to mourn his passing. Of my own children, I have a son who is doing well, and a daughter who I have not had very much contact with in the 3 and a half years since her 18th birthday.

On that day, she told me that she had had enough of my "bullshit rules" and she was moving out to live with her "soulmate," a 20 year old who I had forbidden her from seeing, as he already had a lengthy arrest record that was increasingly violent with each arrest. She broke up with her "soulmate" six months later, and had to get a restraining order to keep him from stalking her. She is still angry with me for that, and for forbidding the previous boyfriend from seeing her, because I didn't think it was appropriate for a married 26 year old man to be sniffing around a 16 year old girl and called the cops.

The joys of parenthood.