Daddy, Daddy, You Bastard, I’m Through
Abusers Aren’t Entitled to Our Energy. No Matter What.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how was your day today?”
Goldie Hawn was the guest on The Actor’s Studio, and she was recounting to James Lipton the nightly dinner conversation she had with her father as she was growing up.
“Goldie, My Love, on a scale of 1 to 10, how was your day today?” He’d say, and they’d discuss the ups and downs of their days.
It’s been over 20 years since I saw that interview, but it touches me still. What a sweet memory to have with one’s father! And what joy it must be to have a good and loving father.
Dear Old Dad
Whatever the reason, my father found me unacceptable and made that known to me when I was quite young.
The dark irony of the thing is that he was a very popular teacher at the only high school in the small Texas town where we lived. Obsessed with his students, whom he referred to as “my kids,” he was constantly comparing me to them, and I always fell short.
What I can only describe as his “mental illness” ruled my life and that of my mother until they separated when I was 12. I recall years of house-shaking anger, of my crying mother begging him to forgive her for “whatever…
