Everyone knows that no father is perfect, but even after growing up, I still find it hard to forgive my dad for turning his back on me. Over 20 years ago when I was about seven years old, my dad told me that he was stepping out to get cigarettes, when he was actually going to trade Pokémon cards instead.
My father is still technically in my life today, but I don’t know if I will ever really let go of this.
I can’t believe my dad, who I thought was the cool kind of guy who would just go out and get a pack of cigarettes and then smoke them, was actually going out to trade Pokémon cards with his dumb non-smoking friends like some weak little nerd.
You think you’d know your own dad, but I guess you can never be too sure.
Years later, he apologized to me about the whole situation (only the lying part??), but I still find it hard to completely forgive him. After all, how can I really trust someone who would lie to me about their hobby of trading Pokémon cards?
Sure, he was only gone for about 30 minutes, but those were 30 minutes that he could have spent with me, or actually getting cigarettes like he said he was going to.
When I tell people about this traumatic event that happened in my life, they usually say things like, “Oh, I thought you were gonna say that he left your family,” or “Wow, your dad likes to trade Pokémon cards? That’s so cool!” or even just “Okay. So?”, but what they don’t seem to understand is that my father lied to me. Maybe because he was embarrassed, maybe because he didn’t want me to take his cards, but it still hurts nonetheless.
No, he didn’t leave for good like some cowardly fathers do, but I can’t help but wonder: Would it have been easier if he had?
Apparently, the answer is “no” and “that’s really offensive” but I’m not convinced.
Today, I’m still working hard to get past it, and while I have made some progress, I admit that I’m not totally able to forgive my dad just yet. I have, however, started trading Pokémon cards, and I totally get the hype now.
