From the “I just don’t understand my Father” Dept.

Hi all,

Just want to remark about an incident that happened today, but in order for you to best understand what I’m going through, you’ll need some background about my family.

My Parents moved here in 1973, they’ve worked hard to ensure a reasonably high quality of life for my brothers and I (which I am ever so thankful, of course). For those who don’t know, my Dad is a 3rd generation Watchmaker, and my Mom works at a linens’ factory. We’ve never been rich…never really wanted to be rich.

However, I think some of the hardships, financially speaking, have warped my Dad somewhat.

Case in point (and the reason that I’m writing this):

Last week, I received a call from the local branch of Cerebral Palsy Canada. They were doing their bi-annual clothing drive, and were asking for my support. “No problem,” I said, “I’ve put out clothing for the last 4 years.”

After several reminders to my family, I bagged up a rather large and dense bag of clothing and left it outside my house for pickup.

My mom is has been on vacation this week, so I’ve been helping her clean the house, do some home repair work, etc. Guess what I find while cleaning the house?

Four bags of clothes that was suppose to have gone to CPC.

So I guess this is what transpired: For the past five years, my Dad has been surreptitiously taking the clothing (that had been meant for Cerebral Palsy Canada) and hiding them back inside the house. Very sneaky.

I’m not exactly sure why he’s been doing this for the past 4 years, but I’m positive, that in order to do it this year, he had to drive back during his lunch hour to pick up the clothes; I was home all day.

The clothes are out of date, and there is no possible way that he could fit in them….

So my Dad is a pack rat. I admit it.

Hell, he even keeps expired calendars, because you never know, when you’ll need that Farside/Dilbert calendar from 1999 again.

Tai