What Value Single Fathers?
Vince Regan July, 2001 (Note: This was originally written when the Elian Gonzalez saga was ongoing and unresolved. It’s been modified to past tense to make it easier to read) I can remember crying at 8p.m. every night. That was the kid’s bedtime. The nightly ritual was etched within our lives from years of repetition. First Pajamas, brushing teeth, reading a story, and then the ‘tucking in’ and a last couple minutes of chatter before the goodnight kiss and turning out the light. This tradition, which I came to love as our family grew to four kids, was abruptly halted when divorce hit. I became a single father, a relative stranger to my four kids, relegated to seeing them one night a week and every other weekend. But in my new one bedroom apartment the 8p.m. bedtime ritual would not leave my mind, and tears would not leave my eyes. Amazingly, the Elian Gonzalez travesty brought back these bedtime memories from over twelve years ago. As a single father, I can relate to the pain and fear
