Have you heard that saying about the saint and the sinner? How every saint has a past and every sinner a future? I think it’s one of the best representations of how things are never – nor should they ever be seen – in black or white.

Everyone called Mompy’s father The Cool Dad. And why should they not? He was cool, after all. And, you know what? The boys even felt envious of Mompy.

But The Cool Dad… well, let’s just say he had a past. Whether that past is what birthed the coolness in The Cool Dad or merely jolted it into action can be put up for debate. But I think it’s worth trying to understand how he, like most people in our lives we think are enviably cool (which is perhaps college talk for unconventional or unorthodox in the way they are and the way they think), became who he eventually became.

After all, we are all shaped by our experiences. Are we not?