father

Last April, my dad died two days before his 58 birthday after struggling with Huntington's Disease for over a decade. This is my first year without a dad.

My dad had an explosive anger that he took out on his children. My father abused me and I love him in spite of myself. I don’t want him to die.

For the past 18 years, my dad and I have run in the local Turkey Trot together. Holiday rituals make it almost impossible to ignore the passage of time.

When I told him that I caught a Mantine, he wrote back, Yeah, I think I caught four or five of them today. I didn’t mind—for the first time in my life, my dad and I were talking without a mediator. He called around Thanksgiving to tell me that a new Pokémon had been added. He checked in again during a special water event in the game and said, Are you catching the fire out of these water Pokémon?

No matter what parents decide, what should NOT be up for debate is the importance of the decision and who gets to weigh in on it.