After he dove in and came out, by then I was getting ants in my pants and, as was my custom on my hikes with him, I asked him if it was okay if I went ahead without him, since he was preoccupied with something other than hiking. As it turns out, it was not okay, his outrage barely indicative of the sour look he was giving me in this snapshot. My request to get a head start on him (because he was a much faster hiker than I was and would easily catch up to me no matter how long he wanted to swim) was met with livid anger that I wasn't ecstatic about watching my son have fun in the swimming hole, explaining, "We're family!" implying that no matter what a family member is doing for fun should be enjoyed by all other family members observing it. Maybe he's right, but right or wrong, my mind has always begun to wander when anyone, related to me or not, goes on and on with the same activity in which I cannot participate. Selfishness, maybe. Lack of empathy? Definitely. He said, "This is why nobody likes you!" This was very revealing. Said in anger or not, it revealed some hidden feelings he has about me. He perceives that certain people who know me don't like me. But the truth is, there are just as many people who have liked me a great deal. I hit people one way or the other. That's been true all my life and I've never been inclined to plow through the insincerity that would require me to change. So my only response to his frustration with me was to start walking down the trail without his permission.