Protection and control can stand dangerously close together when fear is involved.
Real love eventually has to step aside and say:
This is your life. I will stand beside you while you choose.
And that’s exactly what Dad did after Noah was born.
He didn’t tell me what decision to make.
He simply told me the truth.
Then he stood beside me while I made it.
Part 12 — The Man Who Sat Beside My Bed
A few nights after my divorce became final, I stayed at my parents’ house.
Noah was asleep in the crib beside my old childhood bed.
Rain began tapping against the windows.
Then thunder rolled somewhere in the distance.
I smiled.
For a moment, I remembered being six years old.
Dad sitting beside this same bed.
Me hiding under the blankets while lightning flashed.
Back then, I believed my father could protect me from anything.
