On November 1st, 1999 my mother Carol moved out and left my father. My grandfather, my father’s father, was sick with terminal cancer. Chuck Colgan died on November 30th, 1999.
The divorce was bitter, drawn out, the only winners were the lawyers.
I was forced to go to court at 15, in high school, due to the custody battle.
I wore a hoodie, zipped up.
When I got there I unzipped it, revealing a T-shirt my parents did not know I had worn –
“I smile because you have all finally driven me insane”.
I wouldn’t realize the accuracy, or the irony, until years later of that shirt.
But I was mature, coherent, and the judge as she talked to me alone, told me she liked my shirt.
Looking back all these years later.
As many times as Carol wanted to play the victim, she was married for over 15 years.
Whatever Kevin did – she chose to leave during the holidays when his father was dying.
She vilified my father to me my whole childhood.
He did not speak of her the way she spoke of him.
I have separate issues with my father – a topic for another day.
But the utter senseless cruelty of that act – it shouldn’t be forgotten.
Laughs and Lobotomies 