My Father
So my father motivated me when I was young to do well in school… but then I actually started to do well in school. He still encouraged me to do well, but he was covert with his actual feelings, until he wasn’t, which was confusing to me. For example, when I was in the 11th grade, supposedly the most difficult grade of high school, he told me if I got straight A’s, he’d buy me a laptop. I got straight A’s, and he never bought me a laptop, but I didn’t think much of it because I was my dad’s little soldier; I could get by with less and I never wanted the easy way.
So when I was young, I spent a lot of time working with my dad, mostly residential construction type work. One day, I told my dad that I had to study for the Chemistry SAT, so I sat outside the house studying, but he kept on interrupting me and ordering me to do certain tasks, which got me a bit frustrated and I had to reiterate that I had to study. So some time goes by, I get accepted into college, and it’s the summer after high school, and we’re working on the exterior of the house. He assigns me a certain task, he was already upset for some reason, and as I’m working he starts yelling at me. I’m already 17 years old and he hadn’t yelled at me in years. What’s more, I had no idea what he was yelling about and he’s trembling with anger. So I walk away and drive home. I’m expecting him to be upset when he gets home later that day, but he’s not, he was in a good mood talking with my stepmom. We kind of just ignored each other for a couple of days until my stepmom tells me I have to apologize to my dad. And I was like, what for? Anyway, so my stepmom drives me to the house my dad is working on and it’s just me, my dad, and my stepmom. My stepmom tells me to apologize, and after several minutes, I apologize. And you know how he responds? He starts laughing! I was so confused.