March 11, 2023
Quarreled and Tested
By: N.L. Skjonsby
The screen on the phone was too bright but he used it for an alarm clock, anyway. He often looked at it during the night, just to see how long he had left to lye there before getting up. This time it was 2:17AM on a Wednesday night, Thursday morning, actually. He heard the bedroom door close in the hallway outside his own room, then silence.
Josh was twenty years old and struggling to find his way. He just managed to graduate high school and tried some college classes right after. He wasn’t motivated for education and didn’t know what he wanted to do. He ended up quitting college and working at the same restaurant he did in high school. He was a dependable employee and liked the work but he didn’t have much patience for the other people that worked there.
There was a sigma that Josh took on by working at the same place as a bunch of high school kids. His escape was playing guitar, going to shows, drinking and drugs. He was pretty good at all of these things. Days were passing and Josh fell into a rut. He slept late worked most days and then partied until late, repeat.
Josh and his father didn’t have much respect for each other at the moment. They had shared many good times over the years, but right now they just didn’t understand each other. In one of their brief face to face encounters, Josh’s dad asked if Josh would sit with him and go over some things, with little to no enthusiasm Josh agreed.
Josh’s dad prepared a spreadsheet of potential careers and their earnings potential. When they met it was awkward and a little too formal for a father and son. Josh was uninterested and felt picked on by someone that just didn’t understand and Josh’s dad felt ignored and feared Josh was wasting his life.
Josh said, “Dad, I’ve never been this age and I’m not very good at it.”
Josh’s dad replied, “Well I have never had a kid this age and I’m not very good at it either.”
— N. L. Skjonsby
Quarreled and Tested
By: N.L. Skjonsby
The screen on the phone was too bright but he used it for an alarm clock, anyway. He often looked at it during the night, just to see how long he had left to lye there before getting up. This time it was 2:17AM on a Wednesday night, Thursday morning, actually. He heard the bedroom door close in the hallway outside his own room, then silence.
Josh was twenty years old and struggling to find his way. He just managed to graduate high school and tried some college classes right after. He wasn’t motivated for education and didn’t know what he wanted to do. He ended up quitting college and working at the same restaurant he did in high school. He was a dependable employee and liked the work but he didn’t have much patience for the other people that worked there.
There was a sigma that Josh took on by working at the same place as a bunch of high school kids. His escape was playing guitar, going to shows, drinking and drugs. He was pretty good at all of these things. Days were passing and Josh fell into a rut. He slept late worked most days and then partied until late, repeat.
Josh and his father didn’t have much respect for each other at the moment. They had shared many good times over the years, but right now they just didn’t understand each other. In one of their brief face to face encounters, Josh’s dad asked if Josh would sit with him and go over some things, with little to no enthusiasm Josh agreed.
Josh’s dad prepared a spreadsheet of potential careers and their earnings potential. When they met it was awkward and a little too formal for a father and son. Josh was uninterested and felt picked on by someone that just didn’t understand and Josh’s dad felt ignored and feared Josh was wasting his life.
Josh said, “Dad, I’ve never been this age and I’m not very good at it.”
Josh’s dad replied, “Well I have never had a kid this age and I’m not very good at it either.”
— N. L. Skjonsby
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