Looking back, I can see how all those early impulses to strive for perfection—from my photo albums to the backyard business—were, at least in part, a reaction to the things I could not control in my world. Like my dad’s drinking. That early inclination to overcompensate, to distract from my family’s shortcomings, drove me to overachieve at anything I took on because, the way I saw it, I couldn’t control my dad’s behavior but at least I could control my own.
