On My Birthday I Stood In Front Of Everyone With A Black Eye

the page. They weren’t tears of anger, but of a deep, sorrowful understanding. He had carried this burden alone for three decades, all to protect me, to preserve my image of him.

“I tell you this, Daniel, not for absolution, but for context. I know the pressure you feel to succeed, to live up to the man you think I am. But I am not a perfect man. I continue reading …