The first wonder in situations like this is the moment you started to see your father as he is. Children are born into this world thinking their parents are "right." So freeing, and so disheartening, to see a parent like this for who and what he really is. So difficult, but also so wonderful to realize that he was WRONG and that most people aren't like him, that you can enter other relationships and find peace and love, and that you didn't deserve how he treated you.

I'll say it again, because I know part of you will always believe you deserved it.

You didn't deserve it.

He treated you that way because of his flaws, not yours. The way he treated you said nothing about you and everything about him.

Thanks for a good (but so sad) read. I'm glad you're free of him now.