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by Janet Sierzant (Author)
Joe spent most of his time at the bar, where they knew him as "Gemini Joe," a charismatic, funny man who was the life of any party, but his family didn't see this side of him at home. A bottle of scotch on the table was all it took to set him off, causing his children to hide at the top of the stairs, listening and waiting for the fighting to stop. At times, his creative side came out in the form of poetry, drawings, and inventions, including the first design for a toothpaste cap that stayed on the tube. Tragically, he was never to achieve success. The struggle with alcohol caused Joe to walk away from his wife and children. Estranged from his oldest daughter, years passed until he wrote her a letter. It included a poem that he had written which triggered her curiosity. She didn't know much about his childhood and asked him to tell her his story.
My earliest memory of my father was at a family wedding when I was four years old. I could still see my mother smiling and dancing, happy to be with her family. My father sat at a table, glaring as she glided across the dance floor. He drank one scotch on the rocks after another until jealousy took hold of him, and his rage cut the evening short. I wanted to love him but found it difficult to please him. I wanted to please him but knew it was impossible. When he divorced my mother, I felt obligated to cut him out of my life out of loyalty to her. Until one day, I received a letter along with a poem. I didn't know this side of my father. Impressed by his words, I asked him to tell me about his childhood. As I collected the missing pieces of his life, I had an opportunity to understand the true nature of the man buried deep beneath the alcoholic.
