Wedding vs. MFA

A few weeks ago I wrote about my mother and how she is my favorite person in the world. It is still true. However, I think I owe everything I am to my dad.

My father was not around very much when I was small, we lived in Mexico City and he had a job as an executive at IBM Mexico. Then we moved, and suddenly I was a teenager. I look back and I hate my 13-year-old self. And now I understand why we had such a bad relationship. I was horrible to be around, yes. But what now I know and have come to accept is how similar my father and I are.

My parents and I last Christmas.

I always wanted to make him proud, but I didn't know if I was achieving that. Until last Christmas. My cousin got engaged and, obviously, she was the center of attention. Everyone was asking questions about the wedding, wanted to see her ring, asked about the date. My dad, however, was very mad that I was not being asked questions about my MFA. He thought it should be more important to people that I was actually doing something. I didn't care about people not asking. I was just very happy he felt that way.

Now I know why he pushed me so hard to have good grades and eventually get out of Mexico and do my masters degree. We still have our disagreements, but I'm really grateful to him and everything he's done for me.