My Dad's vocabulary

Anger and righteousness were not in it. At least not with me. I'm not vouching for his other relationships.

I can count the times he became angry with me on one hand. Same with the times he told me what to do without my asking him.

He got angry at me when:

1. ran away at the age of 4 to talk to truck drivers on a street corner
2. when I told him to move out of the house and I never wanted to speak to him again in 6th grade
3. When I ruined two TV sets with a knife.

He told me what to do when:

1. He found me leaving my bedroom with my high school boyfriend
2. When I graduated college and was loitering around my alma mater's town for no good reason

Otherwise, I cannot remember much else. I'm sure there were some minor reprimands here and there, but we didn't fight, we didn't disagree. Neither was I forced to do things I didn't want to, nor was I told I couldn't do something. He was always supportive. Even when we had no money he busted his behind to send me to Italy to study opera. He always told me not to worry, that everything will work out. He said not to get mad at other people, they will eventually get what they deserve. I am only now taking those things to heart. I don't know why I didn't while he was alive. For some reason now his words have so much more weight.

My dad wasn't always physically around during my childhood. But what he lacked in that department he made up for in other ways. He had his own problems. I can't say he did no wrong, but I can say there is nothing I didn't wholly forgive him for.

The last word: Don't let anything eat away at you, not even death.