The two most important lessons I learned from my father was not to be materialistic and not to worry about impressing others.

His entire life was a struggle to seem wealthy and impressive when the truth was we were very poor when I was little. He never wanted a family and his marriage was loveless. As a family, we never went on vacations, weekend trips to the park, fishing, sporting events. They never taught me to tie my shoelaces, catch a ball, ride a bike or change a car tire. I never really knew him. He was always unhappy and he and his wife hated each other.

I don't recall ever having a conversation with him that wasn't about something he wanted. I'm not even sure they knew which public school I attended. Never discussed what subjects I was planning to take or what I panned to do after leaving school.

Their entire lives was a theater production to impress other people.

I'm thankful that I never fell into that trap. 'Was inspired to become a minimalist at around 14 years old and never looked back.

I have no idea what happened to those unhappy people. I left home to work in the city when I was 20 and we never bothered to get together again. That was 20 years ago and I'm unsure if they're still alive.