Joyful Recollections of Trauma: A Hilariously Cathartic Memoir-in-Essays of Childhood Turmoil, Self Healing, and Finding Happiness

by Paul Scheer

My dad’s response to Hunter was the toughest to come to terms with. Dad was very present in my life. The Herculean efforts he made to juggle work and fulfill his duties as a parent continue to astound me. He was my rock; though my parents were divorced and he lived and worked over an hour away, he never missed any of my big events. Not only did I spend every weekend with him, but he also came to our house after school twice a week just to be with me. Hunter was jealous of my dad’s relationship with me simply because my dad was my dad, and Hunter couldn’t compete. In his warped brain, Dad was his greatest rival, and Hunter needed to take him down. He saw the joy I had in my eyes when Dad was around, a joy Hunter couldn’t take away or duplicate. So in typical fashion if he couldn’t earn it, he forced it—whether it was making me call him Dad, insisting on me giving him kisses, or talking shit about my dad and sharing things that my mom told him privately about her and my dad’s relationship. It didn’t work. I loved my dad and nothing was going to change that. When I’d talk to my dad about Hunter and how he treated me, my dad would listen but never emotionally engage. I was so frustrated by his rational responses. I wanted him to be my defender. Unlike my grandma, he never expressed anger that this was happening to me, that I was subjected to this violence. He never made a move to change anything. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard my dad talk badly about Hunter, even to th...