Mark: Becoming an Adult
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.