People have often tended, quite wrongly, to view me as saintly.  I attribute that undeserved reputation to the fact I have always had a very strong sense of the kind of person I should be.  I would describe my ideal persona as one who was conscientiously obedient and loving.  I strove to be a person of strong moral character whose actions were always wrapped in love.

When my church-pillar parents’ marriage blew apart during my pre-teen years, and my father came out as gay and began a life with the young man, half his age, with whom he had been having an affair, I strove to let him know that I accepted them both and my love for him had not changed. 

When my mother married the abusive man with whom she had begun an affair in response to my father’s affair, I was determined to maintain a loving relationship with her, despite his abuse toward both of us, even after she left me with friends and followed him thousands of miles away........