I called my sister yesterday - she D/A'd herself a couple of years ago but is still in the Uk and lives close to my father; he's a self important elder type who is as insufferable as they generally are.
Anyway, the conversation got to talking about family as you do and she mentioned bumping into my father recently, saying that he was sorry that we were having a tough time in Oz and ha had sarcastically said that if he had our contact details then he would have sent a card when Mrs SLH was in hospital. Now I found this somewhat ironic because the reason that he didn't have our contact details was because he chose to not come to our wedding 3 years ago, and after that I do not want to have anything to do with him.
Anyway, I sent him a text with our contact details and he bloody well called me to try and tell me that despite our differences he still cared - obviously just not enough to come to my wedding.
I don't get it, do these people have selective amnesia, or some sort of selective reasoning thing going on? Either they are shunning or they aren't, there isn't really some happy medium where they shun us but they still get to be kept up to date on what is happening in our lives.
To add an amusing twist, in his conversation with my sister he actually said that by the time we have kids, Armagheddon will come. Sorry, I am still waiting for Armagheddon to come before I leave school, before I get married, before I start a career........
Fortunately I have moved on from the anger I used to feel (largely through talking to people on here who made it clear that I wasn't the only one to feel like this) and now am quite indifferent. Don't get me wrong, it still hurts me that he is so hard hearted that he can shun his kids, but I can accept it and move on now, even feeling as if I could forgive him for all the pain he caused while we were growing up.
Sorry to ramble, just thought I would share.
SLH