My Father - 6/17/2007 in 2005 - 2007: High School

As I have mentioned before, my father is a lot like me: He's pretty quiet and kind of grumpy, and when given the choice, he doesn't do much except sit around and stare at a screen. So we spend a lot of time leaving each other alone. This works out pretty well most of the time. And don't get me wrong, we talk, and he can be a pretty funny, social guy. But as a result of both of our personalities, I don't know him as well as I probably should, that's all. I have never quite been able to figure him out.

One time though, he said something really important to me. It was about a year and three months ago, and I was really upset, and we were eating dinner together in an awkward silence. I don't know where my mother was, but she wasn't home. I hadn't told him what had happened, but I was pretty sure my mother had, and I didn't want to talk about it, so I wasn't talking at all. Then suddenly, with no introduction, he said, "When I was in college I was in love with a girl for two years. And when I found out that nothing was going to happen, I got really depressed and I asked myself why I'd wasted all that time. But then I realized that... It hadn't been a waste. Because... I loved her."

I stood up and left the room very quickly because I didn't want him to see me crying. This was my only aknowledgement that he had said anything at all. But then I thought about it, and I decided that he was right. And I realized that this was very valuable advice in general, and that it must have taken a lot of courage for him to give it to me. I never said anything to him about it. I never even wrote about it here. But I guess that in honor of fathers' day, I will admit, at least to you people, that I appreciated that. A lot.