mother was a saint father her punching bag sisters were all called ***** when they came home and failed the ***** check my mother gave them, mother did nothing wrong she ruled with brick hard pork chops and circles of us kids screaming , a belt in her hand, who stole my chocolate bar? No wonder dad had other things to do, referee in basketball and hockey an ump in baseball, a head linesman in football a devoted Boy Scout mentor, he mentored so many young men, but was not there for me. I grew up not knowing how to tie a knot or survive, I was lucky mom favored me. I guess because in that circle of five kids, me being the youngest , before school age, to stop the terror I said I had stolen that candy bar. She was a smart saint, asked me what kind was it? I failed and was dismissed from the circle of terror. I went to my room the rest of my days at home trying to balance the sanity from the insane and withdrew. I bounced ***** off the wall. Made up fantasy baseball players. Had all their statistics scribbled in notebooks year after year, always my name was there and I was better than Babe Ruth. Somehow , I was smart enough to get the hell out of there. I got out earlier with mescaline mushrooms *** lsd Quaaludes alcohol young girls. But, I got out fully when I left to join the Air Force. I look back and state all this for the purpose of saying it was all my fault, not mom's or dad's, mine. I was weak. It took me years and years to figure it out get strong find my voice consider my mom as a saint again and my dad as a martyr!