When a relationship is troubled, time doesn’t heal wounds
Yechiel never got along with his father. Once he was grown, the problem was largely solved by Yechiel moving far away from his parents’ home. With a two-hour drive between them, he could maintain a cordial relationship from afar. On the occasional visit for Yom Tov or a family simchah, he would disappear amid the bustle and thus keep conversation with his father to a minimum.
Yechiel had so little to do with his father during those years that he almost forgot how much pain he’d endured as a youngster.
But then things changed. Yechiel’s mother had a sudden fatal heart attack, leaving his 76-year-old father alone in the large family brickstone. As if that wasn’t enough, his father was diagnosed with a serious health condition that necessitated surgery and other treatments. The family had to rally around and, of course, Yechiel was no exception. He explains his predicament:
“There are just four of us. Of the four, only two of us could do much — myself and my oldest sister. The others were busy with their babies or demanding work schedules and couldn’t get away much. Suddenly, I found myself having to spend tons of time with my father: taking him to appointments, doing his paperwork, putting the house in order. Okay, this is what children do for their parents — I knew I owed my father this, no matter how I felt about him.
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