I hadn't seen my dad in a few weeks, between him being out of town and me being sick. I went up to have dinner with him tonight, and at first everything was fine. Unfortunately, he brought up some crazy family drama that happened last week. Apparently my grandfather, who's always been a big jackass, decided to go for broke and cross the line into being a total asshole. He showed up at my dad's work and got in his face and was pushing him around and apparently saying some really terrible nasty things ... to the point where my dad punched him. So now my dad isn't speaking to his dad; his brother likely isn't either; god knows what my aunt will do, considering the man basically said that all his children and grand-children were worthless.

It wasn't the most pleasant topic of conversation, and probably is why my dad had a bunch of whiskey. I haven't seen him actually staggering drunk in a long time, and I was okay with that. After choking down my dinner as fast as I could, I left his house in tears because it brought up all my old childhood feelings of being helpless and at the mercy of someone who was completely out of control. Not that he ever did anything to hurt me or put me in danger, but for a little kid to see their parent incapacitated in that way ... well, it's upsetting, and I didn't need that flashback.

On a positive note, it must be my lucky day--I wasn't feeling well after coming down the winding mountain road, and I went flying by a parked cop doing 70 in a 45 zone. Oops. Strangely, he didn't pull me over, even though that's where they always sit to do speed traps. So that was super lucky.