Dave,
Were you on the front row with my brother, Evan? Check out the link above, from the Cato institute. Very interesting. He ran away three times...and he also lives in LA today.
Yeah, I also read Toxic Parents. Turned out my mom, a very wonderful person, also seems to have had some major depression, manic depression, and was working her way up to full blown alcoholism. She was pretty nutty during my teen years, not much support there, although she was 'doing her best' under the circumstances. My dad was the classic work twelve hours, come home, have a couple of drinks, and zone out kind of guy...no softball leagues or camping trips for me. It wasn't all bad, but that was a big part of what I was missing when I went into the seed - parenting. My parents were trying to raise themsilves - both came from families where heavy drinking was normal. I waited until my late 40s to have a child, hope to god I'm ready now.
Whatever Seed kids I ran into during my first three months were a blur, unless I lived with them, and even those memories are hazy...
Take care.
w