I grew up in a loving, though not perfect, household. When I was very little, my dad spent a lot of time reading with me every night before bed. As a result, I would read non-stop and my reading level was quite a bit higher than that of my peers. Every year he took me to a local kiddie theme park and every Christmas he would take me shopping so I could “buy” gifts for other people (with his money) and buy myself something as well of course. He grilled out, played games (The Game of Life for years before Scattergories took over and sometimes Chess or Scrabble or Clue). He constantly kept up with our yard and fixed everything in our house that ever needed fixing. My mother came home every night from work and cooked dinner (though, she even admitted years later, she was not the best cook). Every Saturday she would clean the house, change the sheets, make sure all laundry was done, folded and put away, vacuum, dust, etc. ...