Thank you William.

I needed to write an epilogue that the man who wants to go to lineman school is doing that--he's gathering his courage to talk it out with his parents. Step by step. For him, the first step is to let his parents know. Like many men, he wasn't telling the people who loved him that he was that bothered. He just went along with what he thought he had to do. (Same with the backpacking man and the military men. They didn't let the women in their lives know how badly they were bothered. They just fell in line, being stoic -- not stoic in a good way. ) So it just took one meeting and he's already on track to get on the path he needs to go. Mostly, he just needed someone to say it's ok to let go of the wrong path.

I understand what you're saying about the giver and receiver of tears. I feel...incredibly honored that some students find me to be the person they can express these emotions to, especially since many of these men don't find it easy to express emotions to anyone or at all.

Man, for people like me and some guys who seem to drip buckets of snot when emotional, Kleenex doesn't work. A whole box of Kleenex gets instantly reduced to a soggy, egg-sized lump, so I've had to stock paper towels. But I love the idea of handkerchiefs!