Even though it was a life-changing moment, my father delivered the news to me casually — as though it was no big deal. We were in the middle of a conversation about something entirely different.
“By the way,” he said with no warning, “there won’t be any more money.”
I didn’t know what he meant, so I asked what he was talking about. He said he wouldn’t be able to invest any more money in my small startup newspaper company. This floored me, because he had promised a lot more money. I had had no reason to doubt him, so I wasn’t prepared.
My ex-wife and I had launched a weekly newspaper for Birmingham’s affluent southern suburbs. My father had unexpectedly offered to finance the project. It was hard to pin him down about exactly how much money he would invest, but he repeatedly told me not to worry. So I spent the first year building a newspaper that local people loved to read. But now he was telling me there was no more money. No warning. Not a penny more. No explanation.
Midlife becomes big crisis when our self-deception stops working
My mother was more impressive than my father led me to believe
I wasn’t allowed to express need, so I’ve spent life traveling alone
‘This path leads to somewhere I think I can finally say, I’m home’
Economic Man needs no heart, because love and God are dead
End of life brought cancer patient to baptism six days before death
Throwaway culture can leave us looking for something that lasts
Faith and fear collide where dreams and reality come together
Shame almost got me fired — and shame still haunts me years later