Father's Day Airport Ventures to Lesson Land

It was Father's Day 2016 and I've been contemplating the meaning of forgiveness for quite some time. I also needed to do some Uber driving due to needing money as usual. This day had caused me a large amount of anxiety due to being apprehensive about seeing my parents. A few hours before dinner time, I was still stuck in an indecision about how to spend my father’s day.

At about 3pm, after a long and traffic-filled adventure to O'Hare Airport, I was curious about picking up passengers from the airport (as opposed to just transporting them there) since the queue line didn't seem to be a ridiculous wait this time. I texted my friend who also drives for Uber to ask him about what you're supposed to do procedure-wise to pick people up from the airport. Before I could finish my text, I received a ride request. Of course, I had already passed the "pick up area" and just tried to chill with my flashers on while avoiding getting shooed away by security. Most of my passengers I seem to drive are in their 20s or 30s, but the man who walked into my car was a bit older (50s). I had no idea what to expect besides a trip to the suburbs. Meanwhile, I’m still contemplating whether or not I want to stop at my parental unit’s house or go to my sword fighting practice.

I began a normal conversation with this man and asked him if he’s celebrating father’s day since he looked like he was old enough to have kids. The response I received was rather shocking and eye opening. He told me he hasn’t been able to have a good relationship with his 2 teenage daughters due to a divorce where the wife brainwashes the kids. I was able to relate because the same thing happened to my uncle. He also mentioned his daughters hadn’t wished him a happy father’s day; shortly after the ride began, his older daughter texted him. 

After some further conversation asking about his kids, he begins to tell me how his relationship with his parents was pretty rocky and how his dad passed away at age 62. He mentioned xyz crappy thing his parents did to him, but he was still somehow able to let go of ALL of it and forgive his parents. In my quest to find forgiveness towards my parents, I felt like there was a “certain mind  needed to do” involving a mind process in order to “adequately forgive someone”. He indicated to me how you need to put the past behind you and shared a few bible verses (not in a religious manner). I even almost cried twice. In order to properly put the past in storage, you need to tell yourself, “hey, so this, this, and this happened, it was pretty awful, will probably never happen again, have accepted these events occurring, and am ready to move on now”. Doing so properly feels like you’re removing a giant burden from yourself.

Once the lightbulbs in my head went off and I dropped the man off at his house, I did another quick ride and turned my Uber app off. I figured at that point, I was closer to my parent’s house than I was my own apartment and didn’t have my sword fighting gear on me. The spirit guides told me to go to my parent’s house; I stopped at the nearest Walgreens to buy a card and drove 30 minutes from where I was to my parent’s house. The last time I waited to rekindle an important relationship with a friend, he ended up passing away suddenly before I got the chance to do so. I would not like to make the same mistake again.