
I made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later... that the man before me was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like myself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called 'Being a Father' so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life. This image was made as Brian's father watched him get married to the girl of his dreams. His eyes were the driest in the whole church.