Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Trust

In my experience there are four kinds of people: those who lie, those who exaggerate, those who refrain from telling the truth and those who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. People have suggested I have trust issues, to which I coyly reply, “I don’t have trust issues because I don’t trust anyone.” Actually, that’s not true, I trust people sometimes. But I always regret it eventually.

My parents have been married 38 years. One day when I was around ten, my parents got into a big argument and my dad left. The next morning he came back and brought with him a gift for each of us three kids. Presumably he brought something for mom too but I don’t remember. My dad sat down with each of us, discussed the situation, apologized and promised that he would never leave us no matter what. I can’t really remember the conversation or what he gave my brother and sister, but he brought me a hot wheels car that from that day forward was by far my favorite toy car. I do remember realizing that he had spent his night away wandering around buying us presents, which showed that he was still thinking of us even while he was gone. My dad never left again.

That car happens to be sitting on the window ledge next to this computer now, and I sometimes find myself staring at it and thinking how lucky and grateful I am that no matter what happens, no matter how bad things get and no matter how annoying they are (oops, I mean I am), my parents will always be there for me. I can’t even begin to imagine where I would be right now if it weren’t for that fact.

3 comments:

Olive Bread said...

I'm the exaggerator type.

oudev oida said...

Me too.

oudev oida said...

I lumped manipulative with liar. I've been known to be persuasive, which is really a euphemism for manipulative.