Almost exactly 4 years ago I ran the marathon.

 

Before I did, my old man told me he didn’t think I’d finish it

Instead of going “Hey, so what do you think is the point in saying that?”
I told him “…I hope you remember saying that because I’m going to prove otherwise.”

 

As I ran it, part of the route ran a literal half-block from where he still lived, and I remember thinking “Of course he’s not there”
Why would he want to just stand there? He’s probably pretending he has important things to do.
I kept running. That’s what you do.

 

Afterwards, he called me and told me that he and some friends were looking at pictures on facebook (which really means he and his girlfriend saw a post I was tagged in) and said that “they” said that it didn’t look like I ran it very fast.”
I told my sister that that was his response, and she told me that she specifically told him not to say that….

All he had to do was one less of those things, and I wouldn’t be questioning why it gets me miffed that he’s such an apparent jackass.  I want to enjoy watching the marathon today, but instead I’m experiencing this side of me that wants to give parenting tips that should just be so obvious.  Which is dumb.

This is oody-poody, and I’ll get to get past it. That’s what you do.