Jack,

Your brave article pointed out so much truth which I think paints some of what we all juggle with a very honest light. I have no trouble accepting that my folks were deeply complex people. And they gave me life, for which there are daily thanks. I also recognize that both of them, having been born into large Depression Era families, what I could cobble together from their stories spoke to feeling less than valued themselves. What I so appreciated about your piece was that your father learned from his father what not to do. His legacy to you was that the buck stopped with him rather than cascade through subsequent generations. That takes great courage and maturity, and you are the result. This was a superb gift, Jack, and it also answer the question of what to do with my parents's many many letters. Some will discuss me. I got all the feedback about my relative value growing up. I don't need to be reminded of how much of a burden and a failure I was. I see a fireplace in the future of those documents, and relative freedom, such as I can get, by enjoying the conflagration.