Wasn't Me

To my son Tommy,

There I sat, listening to the homily during the mass, and from behind me came an audible yawn.  The poor guy who was the culprit had sniffles and a cold and was obviously up all night sick.  He goes to weekday mass all the time and meant no disrespect I am sure but the yawn got the better of his stifling skills.  But the audible distraction threw our priest for a loop.  Now if you drew a line between the priest and the yawn, the line would go directly through my seat.  I resisted the urge to yell out, "It wasn't me" to make sure Father knew I was intently listening.

There are going to be times when you will be the mistaken culprit.  You have to learn as you go when to deny, when to prove your innocence, when it is enough that you know you are innocent, and even from time to time take blame for something not your fault.  It is one of the more difficult concepts to master.  It is human nature to point to the real culprit and excuse yourself from any blame.  But from time to time, it is just not the right thing to do.

Your grandfather Leo showed me by example when discretion was the better part of valor.  Through my childhood, he would occasionally get in trouble from my mom for things I did.  I was an only child so, if we didn't happen to have a pet at the time, it was usually either me or him that left the toilet seat up or messed up the living room.  I watched him as he took the heat for something he and I both knew I did.  He never said a word and just took it.  Occasionally when I was in deep water with your grandma Roro,  he would even stand up and take the blame purposely.  Here he was going out of his way to save me.  It took many years for me to understand why.

Your grandpa Leo also taught me to take blame and give a sincere apology if a lady passes gas near you.  I remember walking down the supermarket aisle with your Great Great Grandmom Kidwell and she was farting so much it sounded like she was puttering down the aisle on a motor scooter.  Everyone was looking funny at her, so I had to step in and take the blame and apologize over and over.  I still laugh about that to this day, God rest her soul.  With your mom and her crohn's disease, we may have plenty of opportunity to practice this skill through out our lives.

There is, of course, a great example of someone else who took blame for what others had done.  He epitomized it with the words, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do"  So if I get labeled as the 7am weekday mass yawner, so be it.  I guess I can follow some good examples and show some sacrifice and take the blame.  Just like I will probably take my fair share of the blame of things that happen around our house as you grow up.  Of course we can both just try to blame a fish named Mo for messing up the living room.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo