It just wasn't meant to be, I guess

Sadly, our project has ended before it began. What was to be a bonding experience for a couple of sisters and their ailing and emotionally distant father, turned into a typical (for us) family explosion.

Things were working out great. Steph was even gaining more 'family' time with Dad by easing off the 'caretaker' role. Now, it may sound cruel for a man's daughters to not want to take care of him, but trust me, it's not. Anyone who has known a father that has never been much more than a man who likes to argue for the sake of arguing, knows that he's not an easy person to get along with. The stress of taking care of Dad was too much, and it's understandable since she also has her own life and full-time job. There are resources aplenty for a person needing to get around out here. Steph was even going to make arrangements for home delivery of groceries. Surprisingly, Dad was cool with Steph's decision. Until about 3 days later when suddenly he felt jilted (and, not to air dirty family laundry, but this wasn't really a surprise that his mind changed so suddenly). When she told him we'd be coming over to start working on the car he said, 'don't bother. As you have changed your mind about taking care of me, I have changed my mind about the car and am going to sell it.'

With that short conversation, he killed any hope of a normal father-daughter relationship with any of us. And, sadly, he crushed our hopes of learning something fun and interesting from our father.

He will not sell the car. He just doesn't want us to touch it. I thought, with his mortality so 'in his face' that he was truly trying to change and be a better person. But this tiger can not change his stripes. He will be a mean and spiteful person until his last day.

I am sorry to say, unless there is some miracle of miracles, these 'Barracuda Sisters' are merely 'Plain 'ol sisters' and this diary has ended.

(I feel that, since this is a 'diary' I will be forgiven for the highly personal tone of this entry.)