The phone rang in my office. It was my father. "Did you feel that I 1you as a child?" he asked me.
"No," I said in a 2of honesty.
Dad was silent and then hung up. I sat there,3. But it was a relief to have finally told him the 4.
My father was an alcoholic. He abused me a lot. Growing up with him had never been a true 5for me. Even as an adult, I suffered from the emotional 6and never spoke to him.
Several weeks later, to my 7, he told me he was making 8attempts to stop drinking. At that moment, I realized that I couldn't 9problems between us and expect them just to disappear.
I tried to visit him. But deep in my heart, I was nervous. Would he 10me like before? He was really like a different person. But 11he was peaceful and polite, only one flash of the old Dad would make me want to12him.
In the following visits, he told me his 13, which made me understand his character. I learned Dad had had a difficult life, but he was trying to be a better person and 14my pain.
I began to 15him then, and it helped me open my heart and feel whole.
