I know you moved around some when you grew up. I know your relationship with your mom wasn’t the best, or really even great for that matter. Your mother had good qualities about her, but overall she wasn’t really as there for you or Vickie as she could have been. Your stories of your childhood mainly revolve around what you did to stay out of the house, horseback riding, jobs at pizza places, visiting your sister at work, even hopping the border to Canada once or twice. But when you talk about your mom it’s always about her drinking problem or her bipolar and how it hurt you. For that I really think you would appreciate the book ‘Glass Castle’ because the father in it is kind of similar. Your relationship with your own father was better, like the relationship between Jean and the mom in the book, but again, needed a little perking up to really be helpful. The book might be a decade or two late, or you might not even want to read it it to begin with, but I have a feeling you’d enjoy it, or at the very least it’d be helpful to know that there are more people in the world that have a relatively dysfunctional childhood and still turn out alright. This isn’t my telling you to go read a self help book or telling you that you need to delve into your childhood problems with your parents again, the purpose of this is purely for your own pleasure and if you choose to read it, so be it.