After thinking about it for months, I randomly told off my dad and then blocked him.

I wish I had done it when I was eighteen and skipped college to get an apartment for me and my cat. She was the absolute sweetest and hid from everyone except me. I left to live with my mom full-time at 16 and left Blacky (the kitty) behind. She died while I was in college, and my biggest regret is not finding a way for us to be together. I legitimately think that getting an apartment and joining the service industry right off the bat would have been so much better for my health than leaving her behind and getting a degree, especially if I'd gone no contact sooner.

Now, going no contact seems like a moot point. My dad barely ever reaches out to me anyways, and I have a minor half-sister who I can't really see anymore because I've cut off both her parents. I feel a little guilty on that front, and think it would have better for her too if I'd done it when she was younger and I had time to fade out of her memory, but we almost never see each other anyways because even before NC I avoided contact with the narcissistic d*ckwads as much as possible.

It has felt good in subtle ways that I didn't expect to not have ties to him anymore, officially. Though in practice very little has changed, I feel ever so slightly like my life is my own again, an inch more than it was before.