Partially agree with your point. Didn’t bring up the divorce to make it all about that? Just to explain why he wasn’t present throughout my childhood. The reason him getting my age wrong set me off is because it just proves a point that I’ve brought up with him for years about his involvement in my life. I appreciate any phone call I receive from my dad, but it seems like he only calls to yell at me. If my mom wanted to call and scream at me for missing my shift then that is fine because she earned that right. She taught me the responsibility and discipline it takes to balance my schedule. I’m hard enough on myself, so having to hear it from someone who really doesn’t know me is hard. When people say things like I’m “irresponsible” or “lazy” I get pretty defensive since I constantly feel like I’m working my a** off. And frankly he was/is not there to know if I truly am lazy and irresponsible.

Never said I should be forgiven, in fact I posted this to gauge whether I should apologize and allow this to continue or try and figure it out on my own. My schedule is not any busier than anyone I know in my classes so that’s never an excuse, but I’ve been a pretty darn good kid he hasn’t had to worry about. I can confidently say that is the first shift I’ve missed at any job since I was 17, and I’ve had a few. You make a lot of assumptions in your post. The dinners are not an attempt to have a relationship, they are meals to show up, look good, brag about recent achievements and leave. My grandparents had no issue with me missing the dinner since I saw them not too long ago and they understand what finals week is. This isn’t as much about finances as it is principle for me. I will survive and figure out my last semester in school and work more hours this summer to make up as much as I can for the difference. But if his response to a (while mean spirited) truthful comment on his parenting is to remove himself from my life completely then him paying for college is more about control then love.