Thank you all very much for your kind words and thoughts.
I'm very much at peace with myself and carry no grudges for another. It was a difficult situation, they were difficult times. He wasn't the smartest apple in the barrel, yet he did the best he could. I don't blame him, it was then and just the way it was. The average working man didn't have time to spend thinking about their feelings, it simply wasn't the done thing then. Much worse happened to many others, I was lucky by comparison. I'm 45 by the way.
I feel very enriched by my experiences and actually pleased at the turn of events. I guess the best analagy I can draw is that I was an airliner at 35,000ft with a very dodgy seal on the baggage door. It wasn't locked and at anytime, it was going to pop open! My father never had the opportunity, the chance, to confront what I have, but he never had the time nor inclination!
I broke through a barrier......and made it to the other side. Sooo many people struggle or can't and it is to guys like Richard, the creator of this site, that I take my hat off to. So many of us have fought to survive....but it is to people like him, who have lead us through. They didn't wave a magic wand.... they just pointed out the exit signs along the way.
You've done a good job Richard, even more than perhaps even you realise.
