How did you come to accept this about yourself?

[PaulaQ]

Easy enough to do and I could say the same. However, barring any sort of criminality, folks were doing what was in keeping with their view of how things should be.

The only thing I'll ever say in my Dad's defense is that he never really had much of a chance at being a decent human being. His father was a chronic alcoholic, and his mother an absolutely out of her mind drug abuser. He was just broken. That didn't, unfortunately, prevent him from being one mean motor-scooter. Unfortunately, my step-dad was arguably worse.

You have to take all that with a grain of salt though - I am an unforgiving person. It is a character flaw. Maybe Paula can be a better person than I've always been. /shrug