Memories

[Whateverist]

I remember quite a few moments from before I went to school, so younger than 5. I remember hearing about Hawaii and Alaska becoming states before I had much of an idea what a state was. Eisenhower was the first president I remember at all. The Nixon/Kennedy presidential election was the first I was aware of. When I was a kid we had trading cards bearing images of the rockets involved in various stages of the space program. I remember that my older brother had a teddy bear while had a stuffed tiger. He made me bury mine for some reason for which he got into more trouble than I did. I remember one epic dream from that time. Probably the event that seared the deepest was wetting my pants in kindergarten. I would put off going to the bathroom until it was a crisis. One day by the time I fished it out it was an out of control fire hose. Pretty much sprayed down the whole room. Spent a good deal of time air dying outside the room.

[Minimalist]

I remember going to Ebbets Field with my older brother when I was about 5-6.

[freedomfromforum]

I won't tell you what my father did to me when I was two. I was three years old when my father put me out of the house, naked in the cold. I remember he was mad at my mother for not doing my laundry, leaving me with no clean clothes to wear. He asked her if she would prefer to have his son walk around with no clothes, and so to teach my mom a lesson my father put me outside naked, at age three, and left me there crying, for several minutes. I remember it like it was yesterday.

When I was four years old, my father made me walk across the living-room floor over and over and over until I could learn to stop occasionally dragging my feet. He said no son of his was going to walk like a slob. He was so high on pills that he kept me up until I literally passed out while trying to walk without shuffling my feet. I can still smell the scotch he had in his glass.

When I was five, my dad insisted that I learn how to catch a football. It was a full sized NFL football, and my father threw it hard. I was as afraid of the ball as I was of my father. I told him I had to potty, and he called me a sissy and told me that when I could learn how to catch the ball that he'd allow me to use the bathroom. I remember the point when I could no longer hold it in, I turned and ran for the bathroom. My father drew back and threw the ball. The ball struck me in the center of the back and I fell to the ground where I immediately lost my bladder and bowel contents. I can still hear the ball coming at me.

Want more?

[Minimalist]

Dad sounds like a dick.

[Chad32]

No, I think that's enough. I'd hate to think what someone like your dad would do to get my niece to learn to pronounce the letter R properly.

[freedomfromforum]

Dad sounds like a dick.

The man I've described was a very bad father, but I never thought of him as a dad until recently. I sought out my "father" two years ago, and I found the man I now call "dad". We've both grown so much. I love my dad.

[Minimalist]

You're far more forgiving than I would have been.

[freedomfromforum]

You're far more forgiving than I would have been.

I'm far more forgiving than I ever knew I was capable of being. BTW, I didn't even tell the "bad" stories hock:

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

My earliest memory was being in a stroller about age 4 at a carnival at night. I have vivid memories starting about age 5.

[Jackalope]

Dad sounds like a dick.

The man I've described was a very bad father, but I never thought of him as a dad until recently. I sought out my "father" two years ago, and I found the man I now call "dad". We've both grown so much. I love my dad.

My father was merely emotionally absent. I can't imagine going through that kind of abuse and finding it within myself to reconcile. I haven't done so with my father, and until he is capable of meeting me part of the way, I won't.

You are a better man than I, seriously.