I Don’t Have Any Beef With Her
“My parents married young, as was typical in the 60s. A decade into it he was [caught with] our babysitter. He eventually left our mom and married her. That only lasted a few years.
Dad then played knight in shining armor to a succession of young women ‘down on their luck’, ‘on the outs with their parents’, ‘raising kids on their own with no other help’, etc. Same pattern over and over. They were always about the same age – late teens to early twenties – no matter how old my dad got, or how much older we, his children, were compared to them.
Ultimately his work took him to the Philippines… ah, you can see where this is going, can’t you… and became involved with a young woman there. He said they were just friends and all his many trips there were to help her and her family.
We rolled our eyes. Eventually Dad informed us he had married her so she could come to Canada for a better life. She is about five years younger than the youngest one of us.
I don’t have any beef with her. She’s a kind and decent person, and hardworking, albeit too submissive and deferential to my dad. I’m sure that’s part of what he likes about her.
My problem is with my dad alone, who has repeatedly proven himself to be a self-centered narcissist fixated on younger women. He congratulates himself for ‘saving’ all these people and helping them out of their miserable lives when he’s never had the time of day for his own kids or grandkids.
He’s lied and broken promises his whole life, and I have no respect for him. When I married, I would not let him walk me down the aisle. Healing is a long process.” Story credit: Reddit / @IdleOsprey