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Happy Father's Day to My Son the Writer

This is an ongoing series of my columns and articles that appeared in Canadian newspapers. This story appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on August 3, 2013.  Thanks to Postmedia and the Citizen for permission to reprint it. 

It's been a hard and arduous journey for my son Nicholas who has faced many challenges over the years. Born into privilege, he got a good start but his soul was literally fractured by a bitter divorce that left him, for five years, in an abusive situation with his stepmother and father. Then he was sent by Dad to a boarding school where he was subjected to so much abuse that he and his classmates won a financial settlement.

When he came back to live with me he was a broken boy, and ended up on the street and lived in a cloud of drugs and alcohol while in his teens.

But he clawed his way back, thanks to the love of a good woman -- his little daughter Skylar who is the light of his life. And he reclaimed his life through writing. This month, Nicholas published an anthology of his writing which can be found here.

I am beyond proud of Nicholas. He is an excellent writer, and a terrific father.

Happy Father's Day, young man. Can't wait to see what you do next.

Nick's first bookNick's first book Sat, Aug 3, 2013 – 69 · The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) · Newspapers.com


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