“My father was never around when I was growing up,” Ashley stated. “I never really knew him. My mom says they were in love so they got married. The first couple of years were great,” Ashley’s voice started to turn into a whisper. I could tell by the expression on her face that this hurt just as much as my mom leaving. It’s one of those memories than can eat away at you until there’s nothing left. Every time it comes to mind you can only find empty tears. Nothings ever going be quite the same. Neither of us had the “all American family”. It’s not the fact that they left that gets you. No, it’s the fact that you were never enough, the fact that they never loved you… “About a year after I was born she said that she started seeing changes in him. She said it was like she didn’t even know who he was anymore. He’d lash out at her, come home drunk almost every night, and one night he just never came home. My mom looked in his dresser to find all of his cloths were gone. He didn’t bother to leave a note. Three years ago he died in a car accident. The funny thing is he was killed my a drunk driver”

“They never cared, so I wont either,” I said. “If they couldn’t stick around then I don’t need them. Once my mom left I think my dad blamed us,” I responded. “We weren’t good enough for him anymore. When my brother went to college last year, he never came home on weekends or holidays. He called me occasionally to stay in touch, because we used to be really close, until he moved into mom’s old office. We’d talk about everything before he left. He was my support. It’s hard to depend on someone when they live three hours away. The sad thing is though, that when I left I think he patched things up with my dad.”

“How’d he do that?” Kyla questioned unsure of how to state her question. I could see her eyes shift nervously unable to decide if she should look me in the eye or turn away. It wouldn’t matter if she looked me in the eye or not. My gaze wasn’t leaving the water. Deep down I knew why he chose that time to mend the broken relationship. It’s easier to fix things when you don’t have to worry about a screw up running around.