Coping with change...

After nearly a decade of not being around, my Dad recently decided to take an interest in me and life and I’m not sure how I feel about it. About 6 months ago or so, my grandmother, his mother, passed away. Despite not being terribly close (I had only seen her once or twice during the last 10 or 11 years of her life), I attended the funeral. He was there and we talked for a bit at the funeral and at the reception. At his request, I gave him my business card and cell number. We began talking fairly regularly which is a bug out for me at first b/c for so long, I didn’t have a male influence in my life. I mean, I had male teachers and coaches to whom I looked up, but I’ve never experienced being influenced by a real-life, tangible in-house (or even in-family) male. My Dad was a drug addict and abandoned his family, his brother, my uncle, was also on drugs and had been in and out of jail so much, that I had forgotten him, both grandfathers died before I was born, and I don’t have a brother. I can’t even think of a male cousin that I respect.

He called me like four times this weekend, which is taking some getting used to. It’s not that I’m avoiding his calls. It’s just that he calls at that most inopportune times. I actually don’t mind hanging around him. He’s only 17 years my senior and is a guy, so right there we have more in common than I and my 52 y/o mom will ever have. I finally called yesterday. Apparently, he left a message asking me if I’d like to go to dinner with him this weekend. I mustn’t have gotten it. He mentioned that he enjoyed my company and wanted to spend more time with me. I felt weird initially, but whatever. I told him I didn’t want to commit to anything, but would check my Blackberry calendar and get back to him. This is all just weird. I’m sure it’ll get better with time.