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When Your Dad is Your Stalker
All I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is for my dad to be nice to me. That’s it.
He can’t do it. He’s incapable. I’ve watched him alienate people my entire life. As a child, I watched him bully his own parents, call them stupid and put them down. I watched him bully two wives out of his life and countless acquaintances. It never ceases to amaze me that he can’t see this pattern. But he will not relinquish his need for control. He needs control like he needs oxygen.
I wrote recently about how my family went a year in quarantine without seeing my dad because he has a heart condition. Once we were all vaccinated, my dad wanted us to begin getting back together again. I realized I didn’t. When I ran this idea by my husband and daughter, they supported me. They don’t want to see him either. The last time Dad invited himself over to our house he screamed at us about Critical Race Theory and other nonsense before my husband asked him to leave.
My husband and I block his number on our phones. I label my dad’s email address spam, grateful to end the stream of racist filth he likes to blast out. I didn’t bother to let him know we’re done with him, because I know the conversation will be utterly pointless. I also know cutting him off in this way will eventually lead him to our front door, when he has no other way of contacting us. I’ve seen him do this to…
