James, you have to know how proud your mother and I are of everything you've accomplished.
You realize that at your age I hadn't done anything close to what you did. I didn't enlist in the military until I was 25 years old. I was too small to fight. I got rejected 7 times before they gave me a chance and even then it was only because they wanted me as their test dummy. They knew I was the only one crazy enough to try it if it meant I could help our country fight for freedom.
At your age, your mother was a prisoner in her own home. She was trapped in a loveless marriage with an abusive man.
We're the same people today that we were then. What you accomplished so far or what situations you're in right now speak nothing to your character. You need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, son. You played baseball, it's not who you are. You're a survivor.