March 19. The women in my life are furious with me, furious with my rampant laziness when it comes to the kids. It may be that I do more with them in one weekend than my father did in his entire life, but it’s too little. Definitely too little. And the kids vote with their feet.

Neither from what my daughter says nor from her behavior can I make any sense. All I can tell is that she is miserable and that this is all too big for her.

If anything, I would have wanted less from my father, not more.

What I would have needed, he could not provide: a meeting on the same cognitive level. When I got that from other people, it was the most intense experience I had ever had.