I love that so many of you enjoy reading about my Uncle Charlie. Honestly, he is one of the two pillars upon which I stand.
After I posted my article about Uncle Charlie yesterday I was reminded of one of my worst moments as a young human by that little voice in my head that never forgets my absolute worst moments and likes to replay them for me like a greatest hits of shitty human behavior.
I was fifteen at the time. I was in love with a girl he liked to call the Little Red-Haired Girl a la Charlie Brown. My dad didn’t like her at that point in our relationship, but my Uncle Charlie thought she was alright. That I loved her made him default to doing the same.
At this particular time in my adolescense I was living with my Uncle Charlie and grandma because my dad was ready to murder me. My behavior truly was reprehensible - I had failed something like eight out of twelve classes in one year and was not improving much the next. It was looking more than a little likely that I would not g…
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