Chapter 17 - My Father's Apology
Dad's transformation took longest.
Maybe because pride had been his armor for so many years.
One evening, he asked me to meet him.
He handed me an old photograph.
I was twenty-three.
Standing beside my first delivery truck.
Dad stood beside me.
On the back, in his handwriting, were words I had never seen.
Arthur will build something extraordinary. I just hope he still needs me when he does.
I looked up.
Dad's eyes were wet.
“I think that's where I went wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wanted you to need me.”
He swallowed.
“Then you became successful, and I needed you. I hated that.”
For the first time, I understood part of him.
Not excused.
Understood.
“I was jealous of my own son.”
He looked ashamed.
“And instead of telling you I was proud, I made you keep proving yourself.”
I put the photograph down.
“You don't have to prove anything to me anymore either.”
Dad cried.
So did I.
Some wounds don't disappear.
May you like
But sometimes they stop controlling what happens next.
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