The Sins of A Family

I'm listening to a book in the car called Emotional Freedom by Judith Orloff. It's a good one. I'm learning a lot. While listening recently she made reference to this song, which feels apropos today, my father's birthday:

She had a bad childhood
While she was very young
So don't judge her too badly
She had a schizophrenic mother
Who worked in the gutter
Would have sold herself
To the devil gladly
What a sad environment
A bugridden tenement
And when they couldn't pay the rent
It was 'cause her father was out
Getting sicker
Oh, the stone's been cast
And blood's thicker than water
And the sins of the family fall on the daughter
All the sins of the family fall on the daughter

Now my childhood had its challenges  -- not the same kind of challenges described in these lyrics -- and I think it's safe to say that the sins of the family fell on the daughter (or daughters -- but I won't speak for my sister).

But I'm happy to say that after nearly ten years of a concerted effort to heal from said childhood, I felt free to celebrate my father's birthday today, to celebrate him, and the father and grandfather that he is today. He's not perfect, but he's my Dad, and I'm a grown woman now. I don't feel the need to keep punishing him, especially now that I know doing so would also punish me and impede my ability to parent my children. No thanks!