Maybe this is why I have so many issues. Maybe it's because you said I would end up like my mother, you said that I would end up strong and independent but you meant it as an insult. You didn't really use those words, but that's what I decided to take out of it. Making your negative into positive like I had to do with most things. Maybe I have so many issues because you were forcing me to be apart of a family that didn't claim me as their own, and how am I supposed to learn how to love myself when the people around me didn't? Maybe I have so many issues because you thought to pay child support made you father of the year because you thought to buy gifts made you a present father. Maybe I have so many issues because you thought me loving my mother was me choosing sides, and how did you expect a child to make those types of decisions. Maybe I have so many issues because you wanted me to leave her the way you did like she hasn't been through enough already. Maybe I have so many issues because you belittle the women who raised three of her children and still have the audacity to tell her to do better. Maybe I have so many issues because you got to pick and choose when to be a father so I had to decide I didn't need a dad.