Monday, March 1, 2010

I ♥ my dad...


... even when we fight.

As bad as I felt about what my dad said to me yesterday, I felt worse for yelling at him the way I did; I even woke my mom up, the way I was carrying on. I have an abhorrent temper and razor-sharp tongue and should never treat/speak to my parents that way, no matter what the circumstance...

Short of apologizing, I sent my dad a text message this morning saying "Have a nice day". My dad's response:

"Thank you. I just want you to know that EVERYTHING I say to you is out of love because I want my first daughter to be a success. I LOVE YOU. -Dad"

Of course upon reading this, I burst into tears. I love my dad. I am my father's daughter. We both have issues keeping our emotions in check and because I never mastered the African art of shut-up-and-be-quiet-while-your-parents-yell-at-you, things often escalate out of control. The few times when I have bitten my tongue when getting a tongue-lashing, my dad has always come back to apologize and peace ensued for weeks after... until our next spat, but peace nonetheless!

I don't want to fight with my dad; I know when wants what's best for me and I'm sure he's frustrated and he maybe feels that he's failing as a parent somehow if his children aren't succeeding. I don't want to "prove him wrong", but rather make him proud.

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." ~Exodus 20:12

3 comments:

  1. i know you want to make your dad proud...and you shall...it is good that these things described in your post happened...i am sorry for saying ..."you will show them"...or whatever...
    Best to you,
    tracy

    ReplyDelete
  2. No worries! My mom said the same thing and my response was identical! LOL...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Absolutely! Honour your father and your mother as a good 'Jewish' girl must. So babe, learn to hold that tongue. Don't worry. As he said to you, its all because he loves you. And somehow I'm confident you'll make him proud anyway..or maybe you even already are.. :)

    ReplyDelete