“Hey dad I have a question for ya. Dad get up I gotta ask you something!”
(The dad thinks to himself)
“Can you not see me sleeping on the couch? You know I had a long day at work and I just got off. What do you want?” he said while trying to sit in the upright position and stretching at the same time.
“How long have you and mom been together now?” asked the boy.
“Well from what I remember it’s been 16 years or so. But don’t tell your mom I said that because if she found out that I didn’t remember, I’m sure ill sleeping right here for the rest of the night.”
“Back in high school everybody called me JonnyQ. Why do they call me that you ask? Well the “Q” stands for “quiet” which is how I was around most people in his school. Nobody ever knew or really understood why, and whenever somebody would ask me if I wanted to chill with them, go to a party or something like that, I would always say “no” and have some lame excuse why I couldn’t go. I would always use that you know “I’d love to but my dad wants to spend time with me”, or “I have a huge project that I have to do. Please, who hasn’t heard that excuse before?”

“Well dang you must have been some kind of outcast or something huh?”
“Not at all, I wasn’t a nerd or a outcast or anything like that, I mean don’t get me wrong, I was a real cool guy and all, but I was just the loner type that just kept to myself. I was that one guy that stands out from every other person but I don’t really try to because I’m just being myself you know. I was the humble, trustworthy, down to earth kind of guy. I was an athletic person, I ran track, and played football. I wouldn’t consider myself that number one, everyone looks up to kind of athlete, but I was pretty close to it though.”
“So what were you considered a jock then?”
“Yea I guess you can consider me a jock if you want, but just to let you know, I really hate being called that. I was the kind of person who hates to be placed like everybody else. But anyway, so I had this thing for a girl named Rosetta but everyone calls her Rose for short. And I had a crush on her since the 8th grade. But there was one problem; I didn’t really know how to really spit game to girls. And when I say “talk to girls” I mean like asking a girl out on a date and flirt or asking one to be your girlfriend or something. Especially when I talked to a girl that I liked a whole lot.
“It’s mostly because my worst fear was rejection, and I was always thinking about the negative outcomes of everything.”
“Wow, I wonder where I got that from.” (Laughing at what he just said).
“Well anyway how did you even get the nerve to talk to her then if you were so shy then?”
“Well this might sound kind of messed up but I always thought “if I can’t have her then nobody can”, but it did get me through the fear of being rejected, so it was a win-win situation”.
“So she said yea right”?
“Yea she did I was so relived”.
“Well what did you go for a date?”
“We went to the movies, and then we went out to eat”.
“What did you do after that?”
“Jeez son what’s with all the questions?”
“Is there something you’re not telling me or what?”
“Well yea I’m kind of in the same situation when you went to your first date with mom.”

“I just don’t know where to take her or what to say, I’m really nervous.”
“Well shoot, why you didn’t just say so in the first place son.”
“The only word of advice I can give to you is to jus be yourself. And if she likes you for you, then there’s nothing that you should worry about.”
“But umm, when is the date by the way?”
“Well to be honest with you, in about 30 minutes.”
“Wow you’re just like me when I was your age, always doing things at the last second.”


My dad use to always tell me to always be myself when I was growing up, epically when there’s a girl that you like. I hope that one day I would have the opportunity to tell my own son the same think my dad did. One day…