My parents erased me from their lives years ago. I sat by myself at my sister’s Navy ceremony… until one of her officers looked straight at me and asked, “Ma’am… SEAL commander?”…018

Later, one of Caitlyn’s academy friends asked who I was.

Caitlyn smiled once more. “Oh, that’s Erin. She kind of drifts around.”

Near the entrance was a display of family service portraits: my father in command, my mother in uniform, Blake in desert camouflage, Caitlyn in dress whites.

Where my portrait should have been, there was only empty space.

I nearly left that night.