"I just wanted to be me"

They no longer limit family outings to dark movie theaters. He goes on errands alone and last year attended a parent-teacher conference—an unimaginable thought, not long ago.

“I used to be afraid to go pick up the kids at the bus stop because I was afraid I looked like a monster,” he says. “Now I pop on my sunglasses and just walk down the street and unless somebody walks up and gets into my face and starts talking to me, they have no clue.

“It is,” he says, “a pretty good feeling.”