I Was Ashamed Of My Dad

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**I Was Ashamed Of My Dad** is the 85th episode of ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

## Original description

Hi, this is Hannah and she wants to tell you a story about her dad. Now that it’s all over, she sees how ridiculous her behavior was, but at that time it all seemed like the end of the world. Hannah has a wonderful family. Everyone in it’s so kind and loving, and she can honestly say that her parents are her friends. Her dad works in an office, but any time he’s off work, he’s up to something – like drama classes, playing the bass horn in a local orchestra, writing things…a lot of stuff really! And most importantly, he loves to make everyone laugh.

When Hannah was younger, they used to eat out a couple of times a month, just the three of them. And her dad would make her laugh every time: being a vampire with fries he put in his mouth like fangs, for example, or anything he could think of. Hannah found it hilarious. But she was about eight years old, and well – kids grow up.

When she was 14 she and her family moved to another town, where they didn’t really know anybody. It wasn’t hard for her to make new friends, and guests were always welcome at their house. They came over every week and they had a great time, but despite everything being nice, there was a problem. The problem was her father.

If he was at home, when her friends came over he would always “steal the show”. Hannah’s dad desperately tried to be “cool”, and every time it was a disaster. Using words he thought were “fancy”, being the greatest actor of all time, and all these puns and…yes, she has to admit it…DAD JOKES. Sometimes he would do some super-simple magic tricks, or even impressions of people none of them knew!

Hannah got so embarrassed she just wanted to disappear. “Why does he have to do this? Why is this person even my father?” she thought, as her face turned bright red. The funny thing was that her friends thought her dad was awesome. A bit...weird, yeah...but still awesome! It didn’t stop her from getting embarrassed though.

It got to the point where she couldn’t really invite her friends over anymore. More than that, every time she went somewhere together with her parents, she would look for excuses not to come. Their town was pretty small, and most of her friends lived in the same neighbourhood, so they could run into them at any moment! They still went out for lunch every other week, but her dad didn’t seem to notice that she had grown up. Once they went to a cafe and there was a huge aquarium right beside their table. So when they sat at the table her dad jumped up and pretended to give a fish in the aquarium a high-five, and looked at her in the expectation that she would laugh. Literally everybody in the cafe was looking at them. She was so embarrassed that she stood up, gave him an angry look, and went to the bathroom. He looked sad and confused when she got back.

Nothing really changed for some time, until something big happened. At her middle school her teachers tried really hard to involve the parents in school activities. As you’ve probably guessed, her dad loved it. And she...hated it.

So it was early May, and the kids’ parents were preparing a play to celebrate the end of the school year. She had no idea about it till she had seen their rehearsal on stage. Her dad seemed to have the main part…and was directing the whole thing. Se was terrified. There were two weeks till the show, and she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t cancel it, of course, nor could she influence it in any way, and she couldn’t talk to her dad, because it would have killed him! She was just getting ready to die of embarrassment right there in the audience.

And then the day arrived. Hannah took a seat as close to the exit as possible, so she could leave if it got too bad. The lights went dim, and… And that was one of the best hours of her life. She was expecting the worst, but what her dad did was…amazing! He acted, he danced, he played all the musical instruments the school had…he was a star!

But he was actually behaving just the same as always: he was her funny, awkward dad, the one he had always been. And that’s when she realized the problem was all to do with her. She felt overwhelmed. That day she realized that her dad was just…her dad, and he was the way he was! Yes, he might be awkward and funny, but he was her father and she loved him the way he was.

Now Hannah has realized that maybe her dad’s just not yet able to understand that his daughter’s growing up, but more importantly he wants to make her happy and he cares about her so much. The moment the show finished she jumped up from her seat and she was the first and the loudest to applaud. She felt proud. Her dad was on the stage and he looked at her across the hall, and he was so happy that she had liked his performance. He was doing the show for her.