In his youth Jim had dreams of becoming a writer. In fact he was still dreaming about that until long into Jack’s childhood. Then he started to dream that Jack might become a writer instead. That’s an impossible thing for sons to grasp, and a source of shame for fathers to have to admit: that we don’t want our children to pursue their own dreams or walk in our footsteps. We want to walk in their footsteps while they pursue our dreams.

Parenthood can lead to a sequence of years when the children's feelings suck all the oxygen out of a family, and that can be so emotionally intense that some adults go for years without having an opportunity to tell anyone about their own feelings, and if you don't get a chance for long enough, sometimes you simply forget how to do it.

those were the best moments of my life. Your fingertips in the palm of my hand. Before you knew how many things I'd failed at.

Once you're older, you'll realize that I made an endless line of mistakes during your childhood. I know that. I've resigned myself to it. But I just want you to know that I did my very, very best. I left it all on the field. I ave every ounce of everything I had.I googled like hell.But it was really, really, really dark in there. And there was poop . . . everywhere. Sometimes, you just have to follow your gut. Honestly, you should be happy we even got out of there alive.

A year ago she sprained her ankle on a field trip and he had to carry her from the car to the house again. He has never felt more like a bad parent that when he admitted to himself that he wished she could sprain her ankle more often.