No my parents liked classical music (how nerdy) and their outings were confined to the occasional restaurant meal with a few friends or family (lame!). I came home every day to my mother waiting with a mug of tea and the afternoon newspaper the fridge stocked with provisions for the supper she’d put up an hour later with All Things Considered as background music. My father arrived home punctually at six and always took a nap after supper.

My parents didn’t even fight like some of the parents I knew. They might tease a little over some mutually acknowledged agree-to-disagreement or let slip some mild frustration. But never any knock-down drag-out fights. I never lay awake in terror hearing my parents lambaste each other. I was left with no dramatic emotional scars. Of course neither did I develop a thick skin or sturdy defenses against discord which might have served me well later in life.