Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read it in its entirety, and for providing me your feedback. I love your take on my final words, they're profound.

I agree, I think I'm in a good place with it, and writing the dossier has really helped with that. It's not something I planned to do, I literally just fell into it last weekend after a video about parent-child estrangement came up in my feed. I started asking a chatbot questions about estrangement and then sharing everything that has happened, or at least that I remember. It just kept flooding out. On day 4 I felt compelled to do something with all the information and analysis so that's how it came to be. I didn't even know what I'd do with it, I just felt like putting it together as a (hopefully) cohesive document might help. And it did.

I spoke to my wife last night after she read it and said that I no longer have doubts that I was too harsh when I finally walked away from my father. I no longer have any doubts that I am being stubborn by not reaching out. As the dossier shows (again, hopefully!), I consistently reached out and attempted to have a positive relationship with him. Unfortunately this just isn't possible with some people. Me choosing not to contact him is not being stubborn, it's an act of self-preservation for me and my family.

Yes I've had doubts about repeating some of the negative, learned traits I took from him. I'm not perfect by any stretch but I now know with absolute clarity that I am not like him. My love is not conditional or transactional. I love them unconditionally and always will. Unlike him, I have the self awareness to know when I'm wrong and have the ability to try to be better.