お父さん

I wanted to be mean to him because he’d been so difficult when I was a kid. Smashing things and shouting too much.

But I see now that we was autistic and undiagnosed and he did the best that he could.

And it wasn’t all bad. He took me to the beach and drove me to college. He paid for some of the things I needed. He never beat me. 

And anyway, what would be the point? Now he is 80 and sick. So what if he chose his church over his grandkids? Nobody really wanted him around that much anyway. 

So I offered to help and he thanked me for that and said he didn’t think he’d need it and we both hoped that he was right. 

おとうさん