Power does not only reveal cruel people.
It can distort good ones.
I wanted neither fear nor favor.
I wanted fairness.
So I became stubborn about it.
My divorce settlement was handled by independent counsel.
Dad had no involvement beyond being my father.
When custody questions arose, he removed himself even further.
No calls.
No suggestions.
No courthouse appearances unless my attorney agreed there was no concern.
At first I felt abandoned.
Then I realized he was protecting me from something I had not considered.
David could never credibly say my father had engineered the outcome.
The record had to stand without Dad’s thumb on the scale.
And it did.
Two years passed.
Grace grew into a fearless toddler who believed every cabinet had been installed specifically for her to empty.
I returned to teaching.
Not because I needed to prove independence.
Because I missed it.
The first morning back, one of my students asked why I had been gone.
