My Dad Was Old Enough To Be My Grandfather. It Shaped Me In Ways I Didn’t Expect.

“I don’t want you to walk me into school anymore,” I told my dad.

The author pictured with her father for kitchen cuddles in Los Angeles, California, in 1988.

The author, left, and her father visiting the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades, California, 2017.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost in April 2026.