by JVW (NC)
I distinctly remember when I was 5, trying to figure out what to call the man my mom had married. I knew my dad was supposed to be called dad, but
this man was around me every day, always here, and my dad was only around from 12:30-5 every Sunday with a weekend visit once a month. It was very
confusing. So, awkwardly I determined to call him “Daddy G*****”, using his first name and differentiating between the two by always calling them
daddy (first name inserted).
Holidays were [[[Horrible]]]]. Imagine getting to be at a party during the set up phase, and always leaving before it began, and having
to open Christmas presents at 3:00 pm Christmas Eve because visitation ended at 5:30…only to be dropped off in the insanity of getting ready
to go to the step-relatives house, who all think you don’t really need any presents because they assume your “real” family has taken care of that,
and hearing the hushed whispers from the older step relatives of how you’re “so & so’s girl, from the previous marriage”. Step families rarely
succeed at taking in the children and making them feel as if they are loved.
I never spent a Thanksgiving at my moms house. Thanksgiving was always at my dads’ familys house. I only vacationed with my mom one time that I could
remember; both of my “dad’s” worked at plants, where they got July 4th week off. That was my assigned visitation week with my real father. So the
family I lived with-my mother, her husband, my half sister and half brother, always went somewhere and I would go with my dad. It’s just plain
confusing.
Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate that I don’t have a dead beat dad. He did right by me, in that he always came on Sundays at 12:30.
He also took me to different women’s houses that we would spend the night at. I would sleep in other little girls’ beds, that I had just met.
And when my mom divorced my step dad–the man that I had grown to love as dearly as my father….and she married another man years later…. Well,
lets just say I called him by his first name, and barely got to know him.
I have a hard time trusting people. Or believing people. I’m not really close to any of my relatives, and don’t feel a strong compelling urge anymore
to “be there” during supposed family crises. I used to try, but it was emotionally suicidal. It was killing me.
It has taken years for me to fully understand the impact. The complete disillusionment during childhood. The lack of belief that I was worth anything.
I felt discarded. Abandoned. Lost. Orphaned. Alone. Scared. Hopeless. I had no direction. This is just a quick summary of thoughts.
The road has been hard. My husband and I have fought and struggled for our own marriage for almost 20 years, but I know we’re going to make it. My
own kids know it too now. It’s taken the incredible grace of God to bring us to this, but it is working. God takes broken things and still uses
them. Isaiah 42:3