Sweet Revenge... Sweet Peace

I think I was 12 when I decided that I wanted to try out for cheer-leading. I still don't really know why. My family & I had just moved from central Florida to a house in Mississippi on the beach. The world was completely different there.
The try-outs were held at a local Civil War park. Amidst the bronzed cannons & moss-draped oaks were about 40 girls, me & two grown women with whistles.
I knew no-one & everyone else seemed to know each other.
All of us...legs kicking, arms flying, voices echoing...WildCatz Got Dat Feev-ah!
'She too dang skinny'
'Um-hmmm...we hafta troe hur up'
'Unt-uh! She too dang pointay. Take yer eye out or punchur yer lung wit she come down!'
' She ain't gowna make hit.'
'Bedder not.'
'Taint no way.'
I kicked higher, flung further, yelled louder & then, I walked home with my head hanging like a gerber daisy snipped in the morning & lugged around all day.
I told my father about my day & about how if I did make it, I'd like my bony little elbow to bust their lips wide open ... about how I felt like they would be getting just what they deserved.
'Child of Mine...Know This in Life ... Success is the Sweetest Reprisal.'
S U C C E S S I S T H E S W E E T E S T R E P R I S A L .

I wanted to go to college.
'Why?! You need to find a good, hard-working, young man & just settle down! Why waste the money, the time?!'
Well, I wasted the time & the money. I went to college. Through-out my public education I was a C student, at best... college saw me on the Deans' List.

I allowed those words to lead me against the will of the very man who shared that wisdom with me.

'I know I have a degree in Education, but I am going to work for XYZ Company. They have great benefits & I will make more money to pay all these student loans off.'
'What?! But, teaching would be more...noble, more... respectable.'
'Uh, I am going into Corporate Sales, not prostitution.'

Success is the Sweetest Revenge...

'I am going to buy a house!'
'What?! Why?! You don't need to be locked into living there?! You're not married, you don't need this commitment'

Success is the Sweetest Redress... the Sweetest Revenge ... the Sweetest Reprisal.
'I am going to get divorced next week.'
My fathers' words when I wanted to cheer...to have fun.
'I trust you in your decision'
My father never wanted anything other than what he thought was best for me. He never meant to hold me back & he never did.
He did a good job raising me, maybe he doubted himself in that aspect & that's why his aspirations for me were different, I don't know.
But I do know he played football and he played to win.
I was a cheerleader and I cheered for fun.
We defined success differently.
He still calls me defiant, independent, spirited & feisty.
But really I was just listening to him all along...
and I know now that he knows that.
sweet peace.