I am not immune to the fact that most people are born from a rich family history. The perspective that each of us have relating to our past, our family past that is, can be as varied as each person and how they experienced it. Our family is no exception. I come from a family of 4 children. 3 boys and one girl. Mom and dad were married at 17 and stayed that way until we were adults. My sister and brothers have very different views relating to the history of our family. Their opinion differs, I believe, based on the last years of the relationship they had with our dad. Our dad was a complicated man and most of this story is related to his unique approach at both life and parenting. Mom was present and sometimes a active passenger in dads clown car. I think as she gained a few years on life she figured out a good survival skill. With my dad, you had to navigate delicately in order to come out unscathed. We grew up with our fathers volatile behavior. Time after time we witnessed it. Sometimes it was the outside world that bore the brunt others it was inside our house. While we were younger, we were fortunate that he had a fair amount of outside targets. That kept his full force from being focused on us. As we grew into young adults branching out onto our own, he became obsessed with intertwining himself into every aspect of our life. Relationships, jobs, family money there was nothing off limits in his mind. The best explanation I have is that he really believed that as our father, no matter our age, he should always have the control of every decision we made. He should always benefit from what we gained. He was crazy, self absorbed and had an extraordinary god complex. I never met anyone who could shut people out completely regardless of his relationship with them. Time and time again I witnessed this coldness. In the end, it left him alone and without a lifetime of relationships to draw from as he aged and died. In any case, the stories I will write will shed some light on who is was. Ultimately, we are who we are because of or, if you will, in spite of who he was.