"Let's Rip That Scab Off
One More Time, Please..."
My son, BoyShoes, left boxes of his stuff at my house... I am in the process of trying to clean out, box stuff, trash stuff, etc... I'm painting, cleaning, all of that kind of stuff. Who knows, one of these days, I may want to sell this dump house.
I've several boxes going... one of things I think he wants to keep, the other, stuff that just needs to be thrown out. Anything that might have any scintilla of value is being kept, and I will let him make the decision to throw anything away.
I've found several photos... some I am pleased to find... and will make copies of them before I give him the originals... after all, they are his. This is an important lesson that I have learned from a certain sister...
And then I find this one below...
The Photo appears to be from a Christmas Past...
Lil BoyShoes is SO sweet!
The photo appears to be from a Christmas many years ago... when he was a rug rat... it has been cut and used in an applique... pasted over a piece of paper on which he wrote a poem. It didn't take long for me to realize that this was from after his Mom and I separated... and were on our way to our divorce.
I've written about all of this many times, but to make a long story short, my Dad had a stroke on Valentine's Day in 1996, and died eight days later on February 22. Then in July of that same year, his Mom sued me for divorce. There is plenty of other dirt... I've posted it... you can go find it and read it. It's still there and it isn't pretty...
Anyway, BoyShoes chose to take a photo and use it to tell me what he thought of me at that time... I honestly don't know if the name of his writing is 'Role Model' or if it is 'Alone.' I suppose either works quite well. In the event you can't enlarge the photo in order to read what he wrote, I will include it here:
Enemy, show me how it has to be
I can handle anything
Even if I can't handle you
Either way it better be
Don't you fucking pity me
who the fuck am I to criticize
your twisted state of mind
You're leaving me upset, I am leaving you suspect
Feels like a burn from which you never learn
Cause and Effect
Press your face against the glass and suffer
Someone inside me
Everyone against me
Everyone beside me
Clawing away the pieces
Scratching away the outsides
Inside the places that I hide from you
You're the only one I'd rather see
Suffer before me
Don't lie!!!!!!!
You break my heart
You run away
I don't want you to be
I don't need you anymore
ALONE
There are many lessons from this... first of all, don't ever think for a moment that our actions, no matter how they happen, don't have an effect on your kids.
He was so hurt... He was so hurt when his Mom told him about something I did... of course, she didn't tell him everything...
So it goes...
Psychologists might argue that he left it on purpose... wanting me to find it...
Maybe...
My Mother once shared something with me... about something my Dad did... that caused me to feel exactly the same way about him. I didn't resolve things with my Dad until after he had his stroke sixteen years ago... it was during the eight days that it took him to die that I sat beside him one evening and apologized for how I had treated him. I hope he heard me...
So it makes great sense in the over all scheme of things... for me to apologize to my Dad my how I had treated him... and then have that Higher Power have me suffer the same consequence... just so maybe I could know... so I WOULD know... maybe how my actions affected my Dad...
Dad...
I am still so sorry for treating you the way I did....
I don't know and couldn't know the entire story...
I shouldn't have treated you the way I did...
Chris...
I can't imagine the pain or the heartache
that all of that must have caused you...
at the time that you wrote this,
you couldn't have known that I would stay near you...
close to you... and always be there for you.
Even to this day, you know I am just a phone call away.
You know I would be there for you as quickly as I could...
I know this because you have expressed this to me...
I love both of you so... I am so sorry for the hurt I caused either of you... It is so appropriate that I find this reminder at this time of the year...
*sighs*
~shoes~