30 Days of Truth--Day 8: Someone who has made your life hell, or treated you like shit.

Day 8: Someone who has made your life hell, or treated you like shit.
This one is really hard for me to talk about.  When I was young, I was the biggest daddy's girl you would ever meet.  He wasn't home most weekends, but when he was I was always by his side.  I wanted to be just like him.  He has been self-employed most of my life, but always worked long hours.  He didn't take a day off for anything.  Unless I was sick.  He would call his customers and reschedule repair jobs (if they could be postponed).  I remember he would make me tea with honey and lemon to help me get better.  I hated having lemon in my tea, but he tried to get me to enjoy it enough to help.  I drink it that way now sometimes.  During the summers, he would let me go with him to work.  I knew most of his customers by the age of eight.  He even helped me to start a little business of my own changing a/c filters for local businesses to teach me responsibility.

This made what happened after we moved to Fort Gibson so much harder.  All of a sudden he wanted nothing to do with me.  He wasn't very nice; it felt like nothing I did was good enough for him.  He called me names and treated me like I was a burden.  These feelings were multiplied by the fact that I was in high school dealing with petty teenage drama.  My attitude probably didn't help things.  My mom and I didn't really get along, so I felt completely alone.

I don't remember him going to any of the plays I was in.  I think he attended one color guard competition, that wasn't even the state championships my senior year.  Even now it's hard to think about how he goes to all the football games my little brother marches in.

After I went to college, things got better but not great.  I lived 30 minutes away on campus, but he still tried to control what I did after wanting no say in my life the few years prior.  When I told him I was transferring to OU, he told me I was going to ruin my life.  He said I was making a stupid decision and end up making nothing of myself.  Since moving so much farther away, though, things have gotten much better.

When I come home now, he makes my favorite meals and takes my car in for regular maintenance.  He calls me to ask when I'm coming home and sends boxes of food with me when I leave.  He wrote me a little note not long before graduation telling me he's proud of me.  It's still on my refrigerator.