I should be more fucked up than I am. The last words I ever heard come from my mother’s mouth to were, "I want nothing to do with that little illegitimate bastard," talking to my son's mom about my son. The last word’s my father ever said to me were, “Well, you certainly turned out other than I intended.” I was hitchhiking up the East Coast when I had dropped in, with long hair, to see them. My dad died several months later.

The effect this had on me was to not treat my kids like I was treated, to shower them with love.