A Missed Opportunity

Throughout this blog I have sung the praises of my father. I've told of tender moments when his words soothed me, and when his encouragement helped me overcome adversity. I would like to now describe an experience where I thought I was going to disown my father.

When I was a sophomore in high school my boyfriend, Ben, skipped school to enter a contest to win Blues Traveler tickets. These tickets were not for a huge concert, but for a small performance for 200 lucky fans in downtown Philadelphia. The night of the concert, Ben surprised me after practice and announced he had won the contest. In disbelief, I got in his car and we raced to my house so I could change. At the door, my mom met us and exclaimed how exciting it was that Ben had won the tickets. (I don't think she realized he had skipped school, but I appreciated her enthusiasm.)

As I ran upstairs, my dad called and my mom informed him that I was heading down to Philadelphia for a private concert. My dad, usually a pretty low key guy, announced he was coming home immediately and my mom was to stop me from going. I'll never forget running down the stairs, and my mom pulling me aside to tell me my dad was coming home to give the final verdict on my trip to Philly. I couldn't believe my dad was making such a big deal out this concert. My brother, Matt, had been to hundreds of concerts - his first, being U2, which my dad took him to when he was 13 - so I didn't understand the problem.

After five minutes of my mom stalling me, my dad walked into the house and put the fatherly kibosh on the concert. As I stood there, completely devastated, my dad walked into his room to change out of his work clothes. Without thinking, Ben followed him back there and began to plead our case. I don't know what I was more afraid of, missing this amazing concert, or witnessing the death of my high school boyfriend. Within a minute of walking back there, Ben came back looking like he had been slapped in the face and apologetically left.

For the next two days I tried my best to be a typical teenager. I gave the silent treatment, I huffed and puffed around the house and I grunted when I was asked a question. Unfortunately, I'm not wired to be a melodramatic teenager and finally broke my silence.

I'm still mad about not going to that concert. Even now I sort of want to call up my dad and tell him off. Oh well, I guess this experience needed to be documented because it's one of those things I'm not sure I'll ever get over. That, and the fact that Jason chose Molly over Melissa on the The Bachelor.