My father and mother were together about 10 years, and married about 6 years. My dad was a musician in the 70's, and in that involved smoking dope. As did he. We lived in Uppsala, Sweden, during this time. In the 80's, just before I was born, mom noticed that something was up. She knew that he'd started using heavier drugs. He became paranoid and abusive. He hit my mum, and in 1988, my mum left him and moved back to Finland with us kids. They divorced. My dad had contact with me and my brother in our childhood, we spent time with him every now and then, but I always felt the tension between him and my mum, and never grew that close to him. When I was about 13, I didn't have that much contact with him anymore, and my grandmother told me he'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I didn't have any idea about his drug abuse, so I became terrified of someday inheriting his illness. A year later, mum had the courage to dig up old painful memories,and told me about the drugs. Then I decided that enough is enough, and didn't want any more contact with him. He used to come over and bang on the door, and once when mum told him I didn't want to see him, he banged her head against the wall. Now I haven't had contact with him for soon to be 10 years, and I must say it's been for the best. He's never really been in the picture, but my mum did a great job as a parent, and I've grown up just great, even without a dad!