Another story about the Old Man.

Long before the days of cell phones when I was about eighteen I went to a kegger and lost track of things. I just plain had too much to drink and it was too far to walk home. I stopped and thought things over 

I figured that if I slept it off and was out all night the Old Man would be angry with me. Then I thought that if I got into an accident or got picked up he'd be madder than a wet hornet. Then I thought again and decided that no matter what would happen to me I was going to do the right thing.

I opened the trunk, got out the sleeping bag and crashed out in the back seat. I woke up, drove home and at about 0630 ot 0700 I walked into the house where my parents were sitting in the kitchen. I was greeted with and angry "Where the hell have you been?!"

I held up both hands in surrender and Dad knew I was going to explain. My mother was upset and started babbling. Dad snapped, "I got this." and turned to me.

"I went to a keg party last night and accidentally lost count and had too much to drink. There was no phone and I refused to drive home because it would have been just plain wrong," I said. "I slept it off in the back seat."

Dad was silent and I could see the gears in his head were tuning. Mom interrupted and Dad again said "I have this!"

"I figured that no matter how mad you and Mom got that the right thing to do was sleep it off and come home and face the music. I'm not in the hospital and I'm not in jail," I said. 

Dad softened a bit. "So you did something stupid," he said. "Then you realized you did do something stupid and decided not to compound it with a bigger act of stupidity."

"Yes, sir," I said.

"You might have been able to drive home and sneak in and get away with it," he said. "And you knew when you walked in this morning you'd be walking into a hornet's nest," he said. "But you didn't. Why?"

"Because it was the right thing to do," I replied. "I figured I'd just have to take my medicine. It wasn't worth risking an accident or getting arrested."

He turned to my mother and said, "Thank God for small miracles. Our son did something stupid but had enough sense not to risk compounding it by trying to risk driving home even though he knew he'd be in hot water. I'm calling this one a wash. Don't do it again. Go in peace, kiddo. You got a lot of moxie."

He turned to Mom. "This case is closed. He learned something."

A couple years later when I was on leave Dad and I were talking. He asked me if I remembered the incident. I had.

'When you left I sat down and thanked God I had raised you to have some common sense. You stood up and offered to take the hit," he said. "I was actually relieved that morning."

"Dad, the jails are full of people that made a small mistake and kept making bigger mistakes to avoid owning up to the little mistake."

He nodded, and exhales audibly. Nothing more had to be said.

The lesson served me well. In the Army I had a problem getting back from leave on time once so instead of wimping out I called the first Sergeant and explained to him the problem I had with a cancelled flight. Top simply sid, "I have you covered and THANK YOU for letting me know."

As it was, I made it back to the unit on time, signing in at 2355 but that's another story.

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Later on I overheard Mom say to dad, "The drinking age is 21."

"The draft age is eighteen." he replied. "He could be in the Army now. I don't care if he drinks a little beer. I'm just watching to see that it doesn't get out of hand."

Then he said, "We can't win this one. Kids are going to follow the example set by adults." 

"Yeah, but it's against the law," Mom countered.

"So is your lead foot," he said. "You just got a speeding ticket. We're not perfect. We do the best we can."

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To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY