Chapter 4 - WHAT MOM HAD TOLD USMy parents divorced when I was ten.
Ethan was two.
At first Dad had us every other weekend and Wednesday evenings.
I remembered that clearly.
Pizza.
His apartment.
A sofa too big for the room.
Cartoons.
Then Dad got arrested for driving under the influence.
One night.
No children in the car.
No crash.
Still serious.
He entered treatment.
Lost his license temporarily.
Mom went back to court.
Parenting time became supervised for a period while he completed treatment and demonstrated stability.
That part was real.
Dad did not dispute it.
“I screwed up,” he told me later.
No euphemism.
He completed outpatient treatment.
Stayed sober.
Did the required testing.
Attended supervised visits.
Then things became murkier.
Mom said Dad kept canceling.
Dad said Mom changed times.
Mom said Dad stopped paying support.
Court records later showed automatic wage withholding continued.
Mom said Dad moved to Indiana.
He did.
For work.
One hundred and twenty miles away.
Not Mars.
Dad said he filed twice to adjust parenting time.
One motion was dismissed because paperwork was incomplete.
The second led to mediation.
Mom told me nothing about either.
Then Dad’s contact slowly disappeared from our life.
Cards stopped arriving.
Calls became rare.
Mom said:
“He made his choice.”
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For four years, I believed the story ended there.
It didn’t.
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