I’VE ALWAYS FOUND it interesting that of the handful of legends we have about the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, three of them involve him crying. (Yes, I realize this is an odd way into an essay about being a dad of boys, but stick with me here.)
The first story to be his successor, ruler of what would become one of the world’s most powerful empires. When he considered the enormity of all this responsibility, he cried.