New fuses, and a different parent...

So, my therapy session with mom went better than I could have hoped. ^^ I feel rather silly for doubting her, as, despite the fact that we can fight quite easily (our personalities are FAR too similar...), she has always been my strongest advocate.

Not quite so with my dad.

Mom wants me to tell dad, which is fair, and is not pressuring me to do so. Likewise, she promised (both me and dad) that she wouldn't herself (I believe her for a few reasons...). However, as she pointed out, he will eventually find out, and it's better coming from me. Further, she feels that it would be a good idea to tell him before I leave in a little less than two weeks to be with my Lisa, so that he has time to try and assimilate the idea. The multiple-months cooling off period sounds very attractive, to say the least, as does the separation of most of a globe... >.<

So, the challenge is, how do I come out to a man who routinely suppresses his emotions until he lashes out from the stress, which is exacerbated by his poor business sense and the consequences for the family finances, especially given that he and I don't have the best relationship as our personalities are very, very different in a bunch of ways (openness to experience, imagination, and my lack of religious belief compared to his much deeper and very embraced indoctrination)? I've thought about involving my parents' mormon bishop, but I'm not sure that that's a good idea, or that I could do so without it getting back to dad prematurely. >.< I'm pretty sure that involving my therapist again would just make him feel ambushed, which mom agrees would just shut him off automatically. Unfortunately, mom's evaluation of the situation is about like mine: We can't tell how badly he'll take it, except for "not well". It's >very< unlikely that he'd get physically violent (he's only even come close >once<, and only after... pretty severe provocation...), but if anything could push him to that, it'd be this.

So, advice? Words of wisdom/caution? Good wishes? ^^ I'll have to tell him by about midday on the 22nd, as I'm flying out of Salt Lake that evening. Help! ^^