When I was about 12 or 13, my dad gave me a $50 bill to hold while we ran errands before driving to the video store. We eventually made it to the video store and he asked me for the money. I thought I had given it back to him in the car, but I didnt remember for sure. I told him that I thought I had given it back to him after I checked my pockets. He checked his pockets. No $50. He was P'Oed. Irate. We searched the aisles of the video store, then the parking lot, and then the car. All the while he was calling me every name in the book. He was red hot angry. Told the video clerk something to the effect of, "my _______ son lost the damn money". We get in the car and begin driving back in silence. 15 minutes go by. He's too angry to talk anymore. I feel like pure crap, because I can't recall giving him the money back. I had to have right? What the hell did I do with it? God, he's right. I'm a forking idiot. How did I lose that much money? All these thoughts are running through my mind as we ride in silence.
Then, without cause, without so much as a word, he reaches up and pats his shirt. There's a pocket on the right hand side of his t-shirt. He reaches in and finds the missing bill. He pulls it out and looks at it. Pulls over. He turns to me and says the following. I remember it as if it happened yesterday. "You did give it back to me. I called you every name I could think of, I had it the whole time. I'm sorry." My dad apologized to me. He apologized to me.
"That's okay", I say quietly as I still wrestle with the wave of relief sweeping over me and the shock of hearing a remorseful apology from my hero.
"No, it's not. That's on me." We went back to story and got the movies we initially were going to rent. He also let me get a video game which usually never happened. He never told the clerk how we found the money, but I'm guessing the video game rental tipped him off that it wasnt my fault, LOL.
In hindsight, I can say that I gained a lot more respect for my dad that day. I learned a lot too. Sometimes dads make mistakes. Own them.
I dont remember the movies we rented, but I remember the video game rental, Paperboy. Worse video game ever.