Thread: I always thought my dad was a hands off dad. The majority of our interaction came in my teens working for him laying brick, block and rock in the hot Georgia sun. He drank every evening after work, usually while fixing his equipment for work the next day.

He avoided social interaction so much that we’d have to bring him a plate of food home from his own birthday dinner at his parents next door. He wasn’t complicated, but loving him was. The first time I realized he wasn’t “hands off” he just didn’t think he could be vulnerable was

Was after I graduated. I’d gotten my heartbroken from the girl I’d dated all of high school and he came home, looked at me and said “son, get in the truck” He explained he’d found a cave near a remote job site and he need me and my (small) best friend Keith to go down in it.

It was a small hole in the ground. We used a robe and flashlights and found a whole room sized cavity half filled with water and a ledge to sit on. By the time we got back out he was smiling.

He said “Son, you gotta go through tight spaces and into places the scare the shit out of you in this life. But if you’ll believe in yourself and let people help you, there’s no telling what you’ll find” This song is him in & out: