And the honest answer is that I was not, not then, and the reason is worth understanding.

It is not that I was fearless or naive about the road ahead; I have felt plenty of ordinary fear in the years since, the fear every parent feels.

It is that the fear and the decision were simply not in the same place.

The decision had been made by something deeper than fear, in the moment her hand closed on my collar, and once a thing is decided at that level, the fear does not get a vote on whether.

It only gets a vote on how, and how is a problem you solve one day at a time, with help, with a good brother and a good team and a great deal of love.