My Daughter Went to the Father Daughter Dance Alone Until a Dozen Marines Walked In

for the dance. I had thought through how it would feel to walk in without Keith, had coached myself on the drive over, had built up what I thought was sufficient readiness for the difficulty of it. I had not prepared for my seven-year-old daughter to ask to go home because the room was too full of what she did not have.

I took her hand and held it. continue reading …