I have had an unsteady relationship with my father for most of my life. Depending on my age, he wore the hat of genius, villain, survivor, jerk, superhero, traitor and confidant. Being the child of a parent who has depression has been a very confusing experience.

Melvin Irwin Noodelman (quite the name, right?) embodies the contradiction of highly functioning and nonfunctional depressed human. At times he is intelligent, quick-witted and gifted, and at other times he simply morphs into this black hole. Depression has gotten in the way of us understanding each other’s words, actions and intentions, fraying our relationship, almost (but not quite), beyond repair.