Childhood Memories

(I thought I'd ask my sister for her input.) - When we were growing up, after our family dinner, dad would regularly take a napkin, wet it, and squat down to wipe up the linoleum floor for crumbs. This would happen after lunch on Sundays also since he was at home at the dinner hour.

Usually he would work overtime at his job which mom, my sister, and I would drive 25 minutes to give him a ride home. Should we be a minute late, or park 35 feet across the street rather than on curb in front of the building, he would get into the car loudly, fussing to mom. He hadn’t seen her in 12-13 hours and that’s the hello she would get after driving to pick him up. Maybe we were on time to pick dad up, didn’t matter, nine times out of 10 there would be an argument before arriving home. 

We often couldn’t figure out who dad was. He seemed to be married to the mint condition car, freshly swept carport with broom positioned just right (upside down) afterward, clean waxed lawnmower, tools just so on the workbench, even pride in brushing teeth, not mom.

It was similar to having an elephant in the room as far as how a person feels when around him.