Dear Daughter,

One important part of a relationship is being able to listen. Your mom thinks I’m the best listener. She would come home from work at night, and I would be like her personal psychologist. Your mom was at a company that was going out of business. I would listen to her stories all night and respond to her giving her advice whenever I saw fit.

The one thing I had a problem with, was her ability to really dig in negatively towards people. There was this one guy in the office that she didn’t like. I guess he smoked and used his hands after smoking to reach in a candy jar or something. This would infuriate your mom, to the point that she would rip this guy to shreds verbally. I didn’t see a big deal with it. One day I met this guy at one of her company lunches and he seemed pretty nice. I got along with him very well. He didn’t smell or wasn’t dirty or insulting like your mom said. I’m not sure why she said all those things about him, but it brings me to another issue regarding your mom’s cousin.

I guess your mom’s cousin worked at the car wash or his dad did or something. He was giving all his friends in his automobile club free car washes. She would rip into him every chance she got. The funny thing is, I liked him too. He gave us a nice Christmas gift last year.

My mother, your grandma, always used to say, “if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all”. That was usually when she was receiving criticism. lol! Now that I think back to it, your grandmother never speaks ill of anyone and neither does your grandfather. They are two wonderful people. Granpa is not feeling too well. I wish I was there to hug them both.

Love,
Dad