The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir

by Griffin Dunne

That made perfect sense to me and was the first time I considered that failure could also be looked upon as success, an insight I would draw on for encouragement when faced with future disappointments.

My fragile identity at that time was tied to a father who couldn’t throw to third and gave me two French poodles named after famous homosexuals. What I secretly longed for was to have a father like my hotheaded uncle. It took me many years to understand what it meant to be a man, and by then I realized I’d been raised by one all along.

A kid in his twenties doesn’t walk around feeling “grateful” when times are good; that comes later, when you’ve truly had the shit kicked out of you and can’t believe you’ve been given a second chance.