“Last I heard he was arrested for buying large amounts of cocaine. My mom let me know. She called me one day and said: ‘I don’t want you to find out by Googling your name.’ It wasn’t a huge surprise, actually. It explained a lot of his behavior. He promised to pay for our school, then didn’t. He never wanted to pay child support. He started calling less and less. I haven’t heard from him in years. But I have a really, really great stepdad. I just call him Andrew. My first memory of him was when I was ten years old. I just thought he was a nice older guy at the New Year’s Eve party. But my mom got hammered, and the whole ride home, she kept saying: ‘Isn’t he so great? Isn’t he so cute?’ Two years later he moved in with us. He never tried to discipline me. He’d leave that to my mom. He always had the attitude of: ‘I’m not your father.’ But he was another adult in the house that I could rely on. And I’d never had that before. He’d cook meals for us. And he’d really work hard on them. And he’d drive me places. I think 95% of my needs at the time were cooking and driving. Even today, I could call him if I need a ride anywhere. If he’s not able to do it himself, he’ll pay for a cab. Or he’ll figure out another solution. It’s the kind of attention that makes you feel like you’re deserving of someone else’s time. He’s far from perfect. He works too much. He snores. He doesn’t do his laundry. But when I think of the qualities of a good man, or dad, or just person, Andrew’s got them.”