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My Daughter Estranged Me 20 Years Ago
But I will cherish and remember the good times of the past.
She will be 49 this month, January 2021. It was her choice that we not talk.
I remember the fun times when she was close to three, and the beach was the most important adventure in her life. She wanted to visit the beach daily. We would go as many times as possible when the weather was favorable. That beach was the Santa Cruz beach in California. We lived in San Jose, California, so the drive was over Highway 17 to the beach would take 30 minutes. I remember those days like it was yesterday and looked much like the picture above.
I would take her to the beach during the day because I worked the night shift. My mother would watch her during the evening. I had temporary custody, that would become permanent within 6 months. During that 6-month period I married a gal I was dating, and she had a step-mother.
That relationship ended when she was seventeen. When given the option to live with me or her mother, she lived with me.
One decision I made when she as 16 years old was a visit for her to the family doctor and insisted that she have birth control. Her mother was 17 when she was born, and I was sure that history would not repeat on my watch.
