Mothers and fathers and how they set the stage for our lives

We don’t choose the starting line. The family and life circumstances into which we are born are happenstance. Reading Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper, a book described as “sheer horror” and the “saddest autobiography ever written,” I’m reminded of my more fortunate start. Article content

Pepper was a jazz musician, born to a runaway, 14-year-old mother – drunk, violent, and mostly absent. It gets worse – a lot worse. Article content

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Pepper’s extraordinary musical talent might have lifted him out of bad trouble. But it was not to be. It’s got me thinking about how the people closest us, in particular our mothers and our fathers, often set the stage for our lives.

I am in the large club of people who believe they have the best parent