Friday, July 28, 2006

Inside and Out

I was so flaming mad at my dad when I introduced him to Shelby. She was my first "serious" girlfriend. Oh sure, I had only been with her for a few months, but I was sure she was the one. This is the thought that wakes me in the middle of the night. Are my children going to be as utterly stupid as I was?

Shelby complained afterwards that dad didn't like her. That's ridiculous I said. But it was true.

I called my step-mother Diana and let him have it by proxy.

"I can't believe he was so rude to her," I said. "He knows what she means to me. Why couldn't he at least pretend?"

"Because," Diana said, "he knows that she doesn't care about you the way she should."

Years later, and I mean years later, I introduced him to my fiance. This was different. I knew it. So much so that I never even considered that time before. Why did I punish myself time after time with dead-hearted women? Hands down in the back please. That was rhetorical.

Beth and Diana were happily chatting, looking over knick-knacks at a country store. My dad fell in beside me and put his arm around my shoulder. He was beaming. "She's beautiful Scott--inside and out."

13 comments:

Flood said...

Not so hard to want after all, huh.

Sweet post.

Scott said...

Not so much I think. Thanks.

Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

Ha!

Yeah, I'm with the Floodplain on that one.

Toni Anderson said...

I think Flood summed it up!!

Bernita said...

Hey, stupid is natural, even sometimes necessary.

mr. schprock said...

Good old Dad…

fakies said...

My parents I think would always be nice to the person to their face. It would be afterward that I would hear what a loser they were.

Kathleen said...

Don't kick yourself too hard, Scott. I think we all HAVE to date losers, so that we recognise the good ones when they come along. (if they ever come along, for some of us)

Scott said...

Toast and Toni - Thank you!

Bernita - True, but is sure is embarassing.

Mr. Schprock - Yeah, gotta hand it to him once in a while, huh?

Trina - There are advantages to that, but I can appreciate honesty, if only postumously

Kat - I want to be careful to point out that Shelby wasn't a loser, although I did pretty much say that. I wasn't the pick of the litter back then either. I had years to go before I was emotionally ready for a second date.

Miranda said...

I was like your Dad with most of my brother's girlfriends. But when I met his wife (also a Beth) I knew she'd take care of him. :)

Bailey Stewart said...

You know, sometimes parents really do know best. Reminds me of a Garth Brooks song titled either Answered Prayers, or Unanswered Prayers (sorry, brain dead - but I think it's the Unanswered one) anyway, I do remember the song, if not the title.

Sorry, bad day at Round Rock. *g*

Anthony Rapino said...

Nice post. Sometimes father really does know best. But not often.

Natalie said...

Sometimes parents really do know best. But they need to trust their kids to figure it out for themselves.