Dad smiled at me, clearly excited to hear the news.He raised his eyebrows.“Well, don’t leave me guessing.”
I glanced down at my plate, feeling shy all of a sudden.“Music therapy.I’m still looking into it, but I don’t know.I know what music has done for me.How it has kept me going.The kind of voice it gives to people like me.And I want to share that.I want to help others heal too and since I know music so well, I just figured, maybe it’s a perfect fit.”
After forcing myself to stop talking before I became a rambling weirdo, I glanced at Dad.He still seemed happy, but it had a little bit of sadness to it too.
“I love that for you.I hate that it’s something you have experience in.”He swallowed.“But I’m happy for you too.”
“It’s okay.While I’m still...I don’t know...processing.Understanding it all.Dr.Arason has been helping me realize who I am now is because of those experiences, no matter how bad.That because of them, I’ve been fighting back in my own way, trying to help those who haven’t been as lucky as I have.”
I grabbed my fork and poked at the too-dry chicken, too scared to look at Dad and see his expression.I just unloaded on him more than I ever expected to.
Dad reached over and stilled my hand, stopping me from mutilating the chicken any further.
“If you need help looking at schools, or going to see them, or anything, I’m there.I’ll help you.I also saved money for you.”
I blinked, surprised.“What?”
“When you were born, I set up a college fund for you.Been putting money in it since and never stopped.It’s yours when you turn eighteen to cover all your school expenses.”
“Why would you do that?You didn’t know if I’d go to college or not.”
“I wanted to make sure the option was there for you.”
My heart filled with too many emotions and I had to blink furiously to contain them.“Dad.”
He squeezed my hand.“I wanted to make sure my baby girl was taken care of.”
“Thank you.”I didn’t know what else to say to that.
“I’m so happy for you for finding direction.And even if you change your mind or try a million and one different things, I’m proud of you.I’ll always be proud of who you are and how strong you are.”
“You don’t think I’ll stick it out?”
“Did you know I originally went to school to be a lawyer.And then I switched briefly into business.Probably switched around five times before I settled on photography.”
“Really?I didn’t know that.”
“I met your mother at college.We were in the same business department before I changed my degree.”He chuckled.“She wasn’t the happiest about that.But she stuck with me.”
His words broke my heart.It was clear they had a deep history together and now look where they were.Without the happily-ever-after they thought they had together.
“She really did love you,” I said.
“I know.I loved her too.I felt like the luckiest man in the universe the day we got married.”He cleared his throat as he battled his emotions.“Enough about that.So music therapy?You’ll have to tell me how that works.”
I accepted his change in topic.“Well, I’m still looking into it, but it’s....”
