Sometimes, people turn out to be not what they seem to be or who we would like or need them to be. For Kaleb Chase, that person was his father.
I used to think that family always stuck together. However, the evidence against that drove my father away from me right before my eyes.
On May 20th, 2011, I was at a friend’s birthday party. I walked home after having a great time, and I was ready to tell my parents how much fun I had. As I approached my house, I saw my Dad walking down the driveway and getting into his truck. I tried waving at him but he never looked back at me. He drove off so quickly I had no time to call out to him a second time. When I walked into my house I saw my mom, hysterically crying on the floor. That was the last day I ever saw my father.
Even after this, I still believed that he was somehow a good person. I made many excuses for him. For many years, I tried to lessen the heartbreak by saying that he still loves me and cares for me because “He’s my father, he has to love me.” When I was told that if I didn't cry all the time, he would still be here right now, I believed it; because I grew up thinking my Father could do no wrong.
However, I learned many things about him over the years. My parents both did a good job of hiding what he did to protect the image I had of him. He stole a relative’s jewelry to sell for drugs. He burned all my mom's personal pictures of us because he wanted her to only have pictures of him, which is why I don't have any baby photos of myself, and he stole from my personal savings account my mom had been investing in for years.