Flowers won't cut it.

When I was a senior in high school my parents gave me a lot of freedom. I think they knew that I was their angel child and I would never get into trouble. If I ever went out on the weekends they gave me a curfew and the only requirement was that I wake them up when I arrived to let them know I arrived safely.
Most of the time they would forget I even woke them up which worked pretty well in my favor.

If I was ever late, I could just slip to my room and in the morning, when my mom was lecturing me because I hadn't woken her up the night before, I would simply say, "Oh, but I did Mom. Remember? You asked me how it went and I told you that it was fun, but I was really tired? and then you said you were glad and you loved me..."

She bought it every time.

(She's totally going to call me yell at me when she reads this! - just so you know Mom; Eliza and Cathy did it too!)

Anyway, it was pretty easy to get away with breaking curfew.

Except one time.

This one time I was getting home pretty late and it was in the winter so the roads were covered with snow. (Even more cause for worry about your teenage driver)

I didn't think anything of it, but when I walked in the door, my dad was sitting right there on the couch.

"I was just about to go looking for you."

Ouch. The worst words a teenager could hear. I wanted to sink into the floor and disappear.

I never thought I would ever feel that bad again.

I was wrong.

Yesterday, I think was worse.

My phone died. Have you ever tried living without your cell phone for a whole day? Seriously, I'm way dependent.

I forgot to tell my honey about a meeting I had at church, and I actually ended up staying a little later to chat.

Remember how my phone is dead?
(this shouldn't be that hard of a story to follow)

That would explain why I didn't answer when he called.

And it explains why I didn't call him to tell him where I was.

It would also explain why I didn't get any of the 12 messages he frantically left me.

When I opened the garage door, he came running out to meet me.

And as his eyes welled up with tears he tells me "I was just about to go looking for you."

I remembered how I felt when my dad said those same words to me.

And I think I felt worse.

Dad, you've got a good replacement.


Now...
How do I fix this? I can't buy him flowers... I bought him deodorant and toothpaste, but somehow I just don't think that says "I'm sorry" like it should.

Any ideas?