“He’ll be here soon, don’t worry about it.”
“Okay, so I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yup, see you tomorrow. Have a great night!”
It was near midnight and my then-girlfriend was asking me if I wanted a drive home from the movie theater.
But I was okay. After all, I just got off the phone with my dad (on a payphone, nonetheless…) and he said he was on his way.
At the time, I lived no more than a 5-minute drive away from the theater. So I didn’t expect he’d be very long.
But after 5 minutes? Nothing.
10 minutes? Still nothing.
25 minutes? Still no sign of the big man.
With no more change in my pocket or a cell phone to save the day, it was now past midnight and the theater was closing.
Annoyed, agitated, livid, and a little embarrassed, I made the call to start walking home.
Two and a half kilometers.
On a busy highway.
In the middle of the night.
14-years-old.
Man, I was mad. A little scared, too.
I remember being so flustered I rage-cried most of the way home.
Then I got there…
And as I walked up the driveway, I noticed the car was on.
“Little late to be leaving now,” I sarcastically thought to myself.
So I puffed up my chest and walked inside ready to give my dad an earful of adolescent lecturing.
But when I got in the living room…
There was my dad…
Fast asleep on the couch!
Now, if you know my dad, this isn’t entirely surprising.
He must have started the car to warm it up, laid back down for a second, and then dozed off again. Classic dad, really.
The comedy of it all lightened my mood.
So I woke him up and told him what happened. Man, was he ever sorry. I could tell he was just devastated to have let that happen to me.
5 minutes later, we brushed it all off, shut down the car, and retreated to our separate chambers to call it a night.
And what a night it was.
Anyway, this is only one small (but memorable) story of my pet peeve in action. Every now and then, it rears its ugly head to boil my blood a little.
And when it does, man does it ever grind my gears.
Can you guess what it is?
Let me give you a little hint:
You’ll have to keep waiting for the next one to find out 😉
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And when you’re ready 