“If we know where we came from, we may better know where to go. If we know who we came from, we may better understand who we are.”

—Anonymous

Today’s story is contributed by David Grieme.

There was something missing growing up, in childhood, in adolescence, as a man. I was missing a dad.

Superman (aka David) in Webster Groves, Missouri about 1962 with his brother Greg

Coaches. Professors. Fathers of close friends. There were many important men in my life, but no one really filled the gap my biological father left.

Dad left when I was ten, after my parents divorced. But really, he was “absent” all along. At home, detached and closed. My five siblings and I seemed invisible, an inconvenience. When asked about family history, our grandparents particularly, Dad refused to answer. We were forbidden, in fact, from asking.

And then Arnold “Arne” Böcker entered my life — the father of my wife. READ MORE