- Joined
- Dec 7, 2015
It had to be something, both kids writing him off like that, right? Some unforgivable sin. It’s just weird because it doesn’t jive with the basically affable old man that even the trolls prank calling him ended kinda liking. Barb does look like the type of woman to break your spirit, but Bob came from a tougher generation than that. Hard to imagine he’d just hand in his balls so quickly. And if he was a hard-ass drill sergeant of a father to his first kids, it’s actually pretty touching and admirable to soften that up for his special needs kid that he didn’t even want in the first place. To become a guy that got down on the carpet and played legos, watched fraggle rock and learned about video games in his 60s all to better connect with his autistic son.Didn’t Bob mention in his first letter to Chris that right around the time he met Barb he was “really down and out, [with] no friendship from Alan and Carol and ready to cash in my chips with heart problems that [he] didn't even know about”? I’m guessing he was a pretty strict father to both of them, and Barb only made their estrangement worse. Though, him being that way with how he raised them may have helped push them to be independent and successful. Without Barb around to act as an enabler, a younger Bob probably didn’t take any shit from his children.