Dear Dad,

I don’t know what it means when I get that look from my family and they say “you act like your daddy”. In a way it makes me happy, but the distant look of pain in their eyes makes me wonder how you hurt them. My mother tells me I got a lot of different traits and characteristics from you, but that look…that look makes me wonder if those are good traits or bad ones. I am not angry at you for never being there for me and I’m not angry at you for that look I get. I am just curious as to what happened to you in your life that could lead you into making the decisions you made. I am frustrated I didn’t know you so I could learn from your mistakes.

Carl, age 24