As Mark grew into young adulthood, he was able to move out of the shadow of his father’s illness.
Growing older, I’ve put that down and stood up for my family. I don’t want to talk about it, that’s not me. That’s not my life. That’s not who I am. But I largely have had to figure that all out myself. That’s rough, I think.
Mark currently does not visit his father. At the most, he has seen his father once a year. Gene is back in a state hospital and Mark sees nothing positive in having contact with his father.
At this point, I’ve kind of stopped caring. I don’t have any involvement in his day to day. He still does call my mother quite a bit. I’ve told them I don’t want to contact him. I don’t want him to be a part of my life. I just had an infant daughter last summer. With that too, I just don’t want him to be a part it, because there’s a lot of pain.