My dad called me just to say he was proud of me. He's never done that in 43 years. I didn't know what to do with it.
he called on a tuesday afternoon, no reason, just said he'd been thinking about me and wanted me to know he was proud of how i turned out. then we talked about the weather for five minutes and hung up
i'm 43. he's 71. in our entire relationship he has never said anything like that unprompted. not at graduation, not at my wedding, not when my kids were born
i sat in my car for about 20 minutes after and couldn't figure out what i was feeling. not sad exactly. not purely happy either. something more complicated than both
i think what got me was realizing how much i'd spent my life quietly waiting for that without ever knowing i was waiting for it
has anyone had a moment like this with a parent later in life? where something small completely rearranged something inside you?