The man wasn’t subtle and he didn’t hide his judgment of me.
“You must feel really guilty,” he said confidently earlier today. “I’ll bet you regret cutting him off, don’t you?”
It was a man I barely knew, but he had heard the basics of the story about my relationship with my father and his recent death. He was certain that I must be wracked with guilt about breaking off my relationship with him eight years ago.
I didn’t know the man well enough to get into it — and I wanted to end the conversation before I slugged him — but I’m very clear about the fact that I have no regrets about my father. I did all I could — for years — to have a healthy relationship with him. The way things ended was completely his choice.
I regret his choice, but I have a clear conscience about mine.

Fear of potential loss is a terrible reason to stay in the wrong place
Didn’t we already try secession? Politicians don’t like losing control
I feel despair about evil tonight, but my cats offer some comfort
We’re neither friends nor enemies, just strangers who share the past
When love finally dies, it’s like a fever breaks and the pain is gone
Society needs storytellers to help make sense of a changing world
‘This path leads to somewhere I think I can finally say, I’m home’