The Bonfire of Dusk

The Bonfire of Dusk, a photo by TomRaven on Flickr.

"Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later... that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life."
— Tom Wolfe (The Bonfire of the Vanities)

To my father... just a boy who died young!