When you're doing a story about skateboarders growing up without fathers, often the flip-side is that you're doing a story about mother-son relations.

This week, I sat down with Keire's mother and asked her what it was like raising a skateboarder who didn't always get along with his father and who was hurting a lot after he died of a heart attack.

Keire's mom is mellow and easy-going in that Southern pace of life kind of way.

She admits that she wasn't around that much either, having to work all the time. She finds it hard to watch him skateboarding because she's worried that he'll get hurt. But when she watched some of his footage, she was surprised at how far he'd come.

Keire Johnson, a skateboarder whose story represents growing up feeling lost and confused, is the heart and soul of the film.

I don't know why it took so long to write this post about a very central character in the film. Perhaps I wanted to do justice to his story.

One step towards giving dimension and substance to what he's been through has been asking others who knew him when he was younger what they'd witnessed.

Zack, pictured here with his pregnant girlfriend Nina.

Zack, whose own beginnings as a soon-to-be father has got him thinking a lot about father-son relations, has provided a couch and hangout spot for Keire throughout the years. Zack remembers the day Keire's dad died. Keire walked into his house and immediately went to the fridge and poured a gigantic glass of vodka. Zack, who started living with a friend when he was sixteen because of a falling out with his parents, is continuing the tradition of friends lending a place to stay in a time of need.