Big Girls Don’t Cry

Especially not in front of their father

Family photo of me and Dad at Fantasy Island outside Buffalo, circa 1960.

The first time my Dad cried was when my brother called from boot camp. Drafted during the Vietnam War, Mike discovered he wasn’t nearly as tough as he imagined when he was out joyriding with his friends and telling my parents they knew nothing because they’d never left Buffalo. Neither had he until Fort Dix, NJ, where he met a drill sergeant who taught him to…