Bitter towards my father - in a word - no.

Not now and not then. Back then, it was not part of the culture to have a present, engaged, communicative father, although many people did.

But also, he did put effort into his home life. My comment, I believe, was that we weren't close. He had trouble being close to me and my sister. He was very close to my oldest brother and my immediate younger brother.

And while he was alive, we were together as a family, doing family things, having dinnertime conversations, and much more.

Strangely, when my daughter was growing up, it wasn't in the culture to have your original father. In her elementary school class, the kids with two original parents were the minority.

I wonder what it's like today.

I have a long story to write one day about how, as an adult, I came to understand my father. As a child, I had no idea what my father was doing in his work life. He became sick when I was 12 and died when I was 16. I started Googling him in the early 00s, 40 years after he died. First there was nothing and then.... amazing revelatory things. I'll put it on the list of writing to get to.

Thanks for reading.