RIHLA #23

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I Believe

I believe in time heals everything. When I was little till about the age of twelve I was daddy’s little girl. We did everything together. He coached my softball teams, went to father daughter dances, took me to movies, we were attached at the hip. It was a little girls dream to have the personality of your father be in the man you plan to marry in your future. Like any other family there will be the normal fights and disagreements. And in my family I was used to my father cursing at my mother and even me. To me this was a normal family. The summer of sixth grade changed my entire relationship with my father. He left for a trip to Florida to start his “dream” business, and in the eyes of my mother it was crazy. This trip was only supposed to last two weeks. It lasted forever. My father has never come back into our home unless it was for the few times to get his belongings. We were no longer a family. It was my mother, my sister, and me: just the three of us. And now visits with my dad were on every other weekend. When my dad was around I did notice his behavior: the anger, sleepiness, and weird ideas. I was just too young to realize what it all meant. After my father left I began to rebel against my mother. My father had told me fiction stories about my mother, leaving me to only grow hatred toward her. I got sick of the things I was being told. She was my mother and although she might have done things wrong I knew she truly cared and loved me. I started to stick up for my mother and instead mention things he did wrong. He didn’t like it. My father soon started to treat me exactly like how he treated my mother. I cried numerous times to my mother about his and my relationship. I knew she knew how I felt because he treated her the exact same way. After those talks with my mother she finally explained to me what the problem was with my father. My father is addicted to pain medication and is diagnosed with Bipolar syndrome, which he refused to have and is still left untreated. Bipolar syndrome is a mental illness which causes an increase mood change and manic disorders. Manic disorders are episodes that occur on and off that include depression and manic at the same time. This was the result for my father’s crazy ideas and temperamental behavior. I eventually stopped talking to my father. To this day conversations between us often lead to arguments. I believe that in time my father will realize he has a problem and get the help he needs to become sane again. This has been a hard experience to go through, but going through this had made me and my mother two very strong women. Time heals everything and I hope and believe that when my father realizes my mother, his family, my sister, and me are no longer in his life he will take the effort to get the help he needs and finally become healed.

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