My mother was a monster and my father was no one at all to me.

When I was growing up, my role models had to be something other than the people around me. If I had a father at all, he was Rupert Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's fictional guardian.

Obviously, Giles was never real, and his performer was never really Giles. But I remained deeply grateful to Anthony Stewart Head for playing a role that had meant so much to me at a time when abusers had effectively isolated me from any true positive influence.

Today, I learned that Anthony died two days ago on Friday, and it hits a little like it did when I lost one of my favorite uncles—a man who sometimes protected me from my mom—to a drive-by shooting while I was still in need of a father figure.

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