He thinks he'll be "less" of a dad

Posted Monday, April 14, 2008 12:20 PM

Recently my dad started taking classes to become an insurance agent. It's a real change of pace for him, but it'll be a good one if all goes well. He was self-employed for 25+ years before this, and just got burned out.

My uncle(also an agent) is going to help him out with this new transition...and Dad's looking forward to it, but apparently he's worried about finances.  He and my mom divorced last year(his choice), and since then he's been struggling a bit moneywise. He's hoping this insurance gig will bring in more $$, so I can "have the wedding I deserve." I'm finding out that it's hard to explain new trends(i.e. bride and groom mostly paying for wedding) to parents sometimes, much less tell them to sit back and relax about money  Knowing Dad, he'll need some gentle reminders that he doesn't have to go into debt for just one day.

I appreciate him wanting to contribute; I just wish he wouldn't be so concerned about it. Will and I are slowly planning the majority of this ourselves, and so far we've been doing just fine.  Since I first posted, I've reassured Dad that my feelings for him as a father won't change, just because there's money or not. He seems to be okay with that. It felt like a role reversal: normally it's parent reassuring child, and now it's vice versa. But I'm confident we'll smooth all this stuff out somehow!