"The Imitation of Life..."

I saw this film several years before I came out to my father and at the time I hoped that if I ever came out to him, maybe he'd prove to be as accepting as this dad. Much to my surprise, he was... It was a redeeming moment in our long-strained relationship and one that helped to build new bridges between us that I thought were impossible.

He unconditionally accepted me... And to my further surprise, supported my relationship with Stephen Christopher Harris, even joining me to pray for him everyday. I was thinking of those prayers today as I sat holding my father's hand and listening to the incessant beep of monitors and pumps and all the accoutrement of modern medicine.

As I said a prayer for my father, I think I was by proxy saying one for Stephen Christopher Harris as well. It was about a year ago that my father was last able to muster from the relics of his memory Stephen's name. As I watched him fidget and perhaps dream in what is perhaps the beginning of that last long slumber, I wondered if perhaps he remembered those days as I do.

"Fear Eats the Soul"