We shamed them by ignoring them. We felt like we needed to pick sides when no one had asked us to do so.

Nobody really seemed to know how to pigeon-hole us. We were Christians from Germany, living in Berkeley, hanging out with cowboys-at-heart, letting our kids admire their guns, listening to their stories. None of this made sense.

I didn’t even notice it. I just bought it, every time. Until our freezer filled up with ice-cream off all kinds. The kids love ice-cream, but even they couldn’t eat as much as I kept buying.