Dr. Laura,  

After a recent call, you lamented over adults who treat their children like furniture or dogs. I can really relate to that. As a child of divorce 45 years ago, I felt like my father threw us kids away like a piece of garbage. I was nothing more than a piece of luggage to my mother with whom we kids lived after the divorce. She toted us around from town to town while trying to find a secure teaching job. My mother took us 3,000 miles away from our dad. 

I've tried to live a good life, but now I'm finally able to admit the traumatic impact their divorce has had on my life and I feel I can really be free. Suddenly my life is making sense. I have always been really hard on myself because I've had so many failures. Now I see that with all the disruption, confusion, dislocation, and alienation during those crucial adolescent years, how could I possibly have done better than I did? 

Also I missed not being able to keep any friends. Even the family cats, who were given away without so much as a goodbye, got a better deal than I did. At least some effort was made to find them homes. Today I can live a good, honest life, looking forward, not back. Thank you for continuing to fight on behalf of children. 

Phyllis