HAPPY FATHERS DAY?

Last year I sent my dad a Fathers' Day gift in the mail. He hadn't spoken more than a few rather spiteful words to me in previous couple of years and I hoped that a gift might help him to get over whatever grudge he had against me.

Instead, I got an email from him about a week later...he wanted to know why I had sent him the package. "What does it mean?", he asked. I told him that he might be over-analyzing things. "Perhaps it doesn't mean anything except that you have a son who loves you and cares about you." was my electronic reply. "I'm going to send it back to you...", he wrote back, "...I don't want anything to do with your love."

Now, I know that I can be a real jerk sometimes....I know that I haven't always treated everyone in my family with the love and respect that they may or may not deserve. But, even I, with my own dysfunctional and damaged view of the world, can't understand why, under any circumstances, a father would so completely alienate and abandon his only son.

If anyone has any answers, I would love to hear them. Please feel free to post below.