Reply #102: I know my parents shouldn't have bred...

[misanthrope]

...the only reason they married was because my mother got knocked up, then miscarried after the vows. She got pregnant again not too much later, then had another kid after me.

Dad didn't want to be married, much less a father. He became scarce when I was entering grade school. He left for good around the time I was 10. He never remarried in the 35 years since.

My mother is nuts and the divorce brought out every crazy iota in her. Among her histrionics were things like trying to involve my sister and I in her suicide attempts, giving us front row seats to hysterical episodes in public places and endless nights of psychological games and manipulation. It didn't take long to realize she saw me as a surrogate for my father and harbored some resentment toward me as a result.

And all of this started not long after I was molested by a relative.

The subsequent decades haven't been too much better in a lot of regards.

My father's father was a greedy bigot who tried to control everything and everyone around him. His father was a jerk as well.

At least I'm finally exercising the foresight to put this string of misery to an end by remaining childless.