Just realized something that was a pretty transformative life event for me.
In Summer 2019 I think, I was going to a concert with some friends. It happened to be on the same weekend as a retreat my family was going to. My mom didn’t let me go but my dad was okay with it. This retreat was one lots of our family friends went to also so it would maybe have been embarrassing to my family and definitely noticeable that I was missing this year.
We needed a car so I took mine, which my parents reluctantly agreed to. Before the concert, I let a few friends take the car to get some lunch from nearby. They met with an accident on the way back and thankfully everyone was fine.
I was so freaked out about telling my parents because this is exactly what they always say will happen. When I called my dad to tell him, he first asked if everyone was okay, then asked if the car was salvageable (it wasn’t) and said it’s not a big deal, just a car. I told him I didn’t want to go to concert anymore obviously and he said I should go, why miss the concert, the car is already gone and not going to the concert wouldn’t change that. Then he asked some friends to drive me from there to the retreat. He never really even mentioned the car afterwards much or held it over my head.
I think it really sunk in then that my cautious dad was actually cautious for the right reasons and that I was wrong to just immediately dismiss his caution. I had a lot of respect for him after that.