Everyone who has congratulated us for Mark’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal has commented that our family must be so proud of him.  The truth is that while Lee and Brittany have been incredible, I am not even sure if my parents know and if they have, they have never acknowledged it.  

I am pretty much dead to my father and my mother only communicates with me when she is really bored and has nothing else going on.  My dad has been really clear that not only that he wished he wasn’t my father but also he had no desire to be a grandfather to Mark.  It’s hard to call up and say, “Guess what Dad?  I have good news.”  We haven’t talked much in 14 years.  As for my mother, she only communicates and tries to work things out when she is really, really bored.  The end result is that they not only missed Mark winning the medal but also his 6-0 start to his football season.  For that matter, they have missed his entire life. It’s their loss but it sucks.  Jordon and I were chatting today about it and it hit me that my dad was 58 years old when I told him about what happened to me as a child and he stopped talking to me.  He is 72 now and both my parents have missed every single day and moment of their grandkids growing up.  Insane.