tequila x testimonies.

I sat across from my dad at El Torito and we ordered margaritas. After drinks were poured, stories were spilled onto the festive, wooden table as well. 

I have always found my mother and father’s relationship fascinating. As a girl, it was almost told in the fashion of a fairy tale. A wistful, romantic story that somehow ends in a beautiful marriage of twenty-one years. The logistics never mattered much-until now. The crossed T’s and dotted I’s were insignificant until recently, when loose tongues and curiosity got the best of us. anyways, my dad told me a story:

“You know, me and your mother almost broke up once while we were dating,” said my dad while tossing a tortilla chip in his mouth.

“Yeah?” I responded casually, “What happened?” I wanted to remain as calm as possible. I felt like a lion, afraid to scare away its prey.

The story was pretty simple.  There was a guy. He was a friend of my mothers, but my dad never cared for him because he knew the guy had feelings for her. My mother knew how my dad felt but completely dismissed the notion.  One weekend, my mother and her sister went to a party that the guy was throwing … and she neglected to tell my dad. I guess the friend tried to rub it in my dad's face. It drove my dad insane. “My pride and my ego were hurt. I didn’t like another guy being able to smirk at me about my girlfriend.”

I mulled this situation over in my head and sipped the last bit of my margarita. Although it's common knowledge that pride can be a cancerous tumor in a relationship, i could see where he was coming from. Too often we are afraid to be real with our boyfriends and girlfriends and say, "i don't want to feel or look stupid." I have wrote about the fact that a couple is a "brand"- when one is apart from the other, they still represent each other. If we were honest with one another and admitted the fear of "looking stupid", then things would go over more smoothly. No one wants to hear about their boyfriend flirting with another girl ... let alone in a public space. Similarly, no guy wants to hear about his girlfriend hanging out with his arch nemesis. Although it may seem stupid initially, it's something worth considering. 

Personally, i am not a jealous person. Ironically enough, this has caused some of the problems in my previous relationships. I am, however, prideful. As i ate the last bit of my chicken taco (because red meat is the devil lol), i saw a little more of myself in my dad... one trait i inherited from my father.