Nervous? Who me?

I was at the airport the other evening welcoming a friend home from a mission she had served for our church. She had been gone for 18 months! I have been friends with her father since I was 13 and he was 23. We are very close. He is very much the father figure to me. I was talking with him when his father came up and asked what was about my neck. He said it in a way that was a bit questioning. I felt myself becoming a little uncomfortable. Nervous even. I replied that it was a symbol of my fraternity, that I was a Freemason. Surely he recognized it, where had he been for the last 74 years of his life? He then replied that he was a Brother and had been so for the last 49 years. Raised in 1960 and PM in 1965. He showed me his watch, a gift from his beloved wife. In all the years I have known his son, he had never mentioned his father being a member of the Mystic Tie.
My thought is; why was I nervous? Was it simply his questioning tone? He is very much the jokester. And also, have any of you brethren experienced this before?
Perhaps it is just the influence of my catholic father, or something else?
Thoughts? How do you represent in the face of adversity?