Me (13 years old at the time): Dad, Mom’s cheating on you. I saw her making out with this man.
Dad: Listen here, princess. The guy’s filthy rich, and when you have money, it’s normal to have a hot mistress like your mom.
Me: But aren’t you jealous?
Dad: laughs
I was flabbergasted, lmao.


Yeah. My father’s an angry narcissist, but he was good at telling me that part of what really fucked him up was his mom being a violent alcoholic until right around when I was born. That and how he’d been bullied for being small for a long time as a kid and teenager because he was a late bloomer (he’s a very large man). That insight into him gave him a lot more willingness from me to keep him in my life than he’d ever know, and it helped me as a teenager to pick friends who could talk about their feelings. To this day I still see that angry sob as a small kid who never got taught to control his emotions healthily or how to feel love outside of a self or status focused lens.