Jonathots Daily Blog
(2704)
XXI.
I confess so I can heal.
If I deny, I remain sick.
- He was 69 years old and I was counting down the days to my 18th birthday.
- He was slender and I was fat.
- He was a veteran of World War II and I was trying to figure out how to get out from under the Vietnam draft.
- He was an agnostic and I was “Little Charlie Church Chum.”
- He was a psychiatrist and I, on the other hand, was impatient.
- He loved his daughter and I was having a high school affair with her.
This man and myself shared absolutely nothing in common, which became obvious whenever we were left in a room alone together.
But despite all these differences and the fact that he did have a reputation for being a curmudgeon, he allowed the two of us to take his Corvette convertible to the prom. He gave me about three minutes of instruction, and with that exhaustive training, I went out in the middle of the night on the 3-C Highway to see how fast the car would go. When it hit 105 miles per hour, I chickened out, slowed down and went home.
I think he felt fairly confident in being supportive of his daughter’s present romantic choice because he knew that in a couple of months, he was retiring to Mexico to live by the ocean, taking his little family with him.
What he didn’t know was that his daughter was pregnant.
I wish I had been man enough to sit down with him and own up to the situation, but I was frightened over my actions and also feared that he would send her away to New York to get an abortion.
So instead, we plotted against him. And just a month and a half later, when my girlfriend was supposedly safe at the University of Arizona, learning how to be a freshman, I flew out, grabbed her and we took off to start a life together.
He was furious.
He was so upset that he called the Tucson, Arizona, police department to stop us, but of course, there was nothing they could do.
He disowned her.
Being a young foolish boy, I cast him into the role of the villain, easily fitting him with the required black hat.
I wish I could tell you that things worked out.
They didn’t.
Seven years later, he died of cancer in Mexico, having never reestablished contact with my wife nor having ever seen his three grandchildren.
I suppose I could tell you the reasons for my action or convince you of her father’s more sinister side.
But you see, that’s not what Confessing is about. It is not being apologetic while simultaneously trying to explain away your motivations.
I was young, dumb, careless and unappreciative to a man who could have used the image of a responsible Christian fellow.
I failed him.
Whatever he’s doing, wherever he is, I want him to know today that I’m very sorry that I interrupted his plans.
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