Dad & Me Revisited

Some of you may remember my dad and our little saga. For you who don't .. my senior year of high school he decided to pull a big, fat midlife crisis and took up with a gal in her late 20's (mind you, he was in his 60's). Mom tried really hard to keep the marriage together (counselling, etc) but to no avail.. their 30 year marriage was over.

Mama purchased a nice condo and lived well within her means. Dad (who was once just as much of a penny pincher as she) married the girlfriend and proceeded to spend every last dime (and then some). Their relationship was drug and alcohol fueled and spiralled madly out of control. In the midst of the hell he continued putting Mama through (constantly trying to take her back to court after the divorce) he wanted me to give The Wife a chance. I won't even repeat the words I used in my reply (but they went something like $$$%@%! $@@&% $&^#%@!! So on and so forth). He walked away from me and didn't look back.

We heard about them through the grapevine as time went by. Dad had a few heart attacks (it's no wonder-considering the life they led), lost their custom home to foreclosure and cars got repoed. She had a young daughter from a previous relationship and in the early 90's they had a son together. When I heard that I truly felt sorry for the kids. I couldn't even imagine their home life.

Before Mama passed away we heard that The Wife had died. She was still quite young (not even 40 yet) and we assumed it was cancer. Dad was nearing his 70's raising a 5 year old boy. So wrong. Years later I would find out that it wasn't cancer but chronic alcoholism that took her life. The booze killed her. I still can't fathom how much drinking it takes to have that happen.

Our lives marched on..

In the spring of 2007 (20 years after their nightmare began), I got a letter in the mail from a county in California. It read, "We are contacting you in hopes you may know (Insert Dad's Name Here) as we are attempting to find family members or friends. If you know him please contact immediately at ..."

The following day I called...