sign of things to come...

last night i was on the phone with my dad. everything was nice and normal until he happened to overhear me ordering my dinner -- a salad with chicken on it. and then things went like this:

dad: emily, it's a friday in lent. no meat.
me: oh dad, lent is for catholics.
dad: well then what are you? are you some kind of buddhist?!
me: we've had this conversation already, and i'm pretty sure you know where i stand.
dad: this is a conversation we will continue to have.
me: fine. we can talk about it all you want. but don't you dare start proselytizing, because it's going to be wasted on me.
dad: [silence]
me: you know, i'm not a bad person.
dad: i know that. i never said --
me: and it doesn't make me any less of a good person.
dad [long silence]
me: and if you think that it does make me less than what you think i should be, that's your hangup and a judgment you're passing and you're going to have to work through that.

and then i changed the subject. but we didn't talk for much longer after that. i realized that this is going to be a conversation that my father and i will likely have at points for the rest of our lives together.