When I was 18 my Dad and I were cleaning the wood burning stove and chimney and I suggested we do something different than the way he was wanting to do it. So he went to the garage to grab something and I proceeded to start doing it my way, which would have been much cleaner.
He got all kinds of pissed off, grabbed me up, and hustled me to that back sliding glass door. I opened up the door with him following and he kicked me in the butt. My back arched and head snapped back as I stumbled down the one 6" step onto the back patio. No sooner than I came to a stop I turned around, fist cocked, and punched him right in the nose.
He wasn't even out of the door when I clocked him. He just slid the glass door shut with one hand, the other hand holding his nose. I stayed outside and my Mom came out to tell me, "Your father is sorry.". We have never spoken about that incident. It was one of those things that just happened and it set the tone for our relationship ever since. I guess that was the day that I became a man. Afterward and since, if there was ever some sort of disagreement we handled it like adults, not a father and child.
Backstory on him is he had a very abusive alcoholic father. He wasn't a drinker but he was prone to losing his temper. He would beat the piss out of a horse for not standing still. Us kids almost always got the belt but there were other times we got the fist. That day I decided I wasn't going to have that anymore. I drew the line at getting booted in the ***. That was a fighting action not a disciplinary action.
He's the one that got me into Mopars and we have a fine relationship today. That was just that moment where he realized I would hit back.
