雷蒙德·L.莫爾黑德/Raymond L.Morehead
To successfully raise any child these days is hard work, to say the least, and it is often both physically and mentally taxing for a mother and father. The fruit of this labor of love may not be seen for years after the child has left home and becomes a parent. There is no instruction manual or book of“what-ifs”that comes with each child when they are born, nor a timetable of what to do and when. Each day is a new challenge unto its own, where success is often marked in fractions of an inch rather than yards and miles. So how and when do we as parents know when we have had success?
My answer came on Father’s Day. To coin an old saying,“It’s not the gift but the thought that counts.”So it was on this day when I was given two craft boxes as gifts from my grown daughter, one the size of a cigar box and the other the size of a large ring box.
“Daddy,”she said,“please sit with me on the floor like you did years before.”So we sat down upon the floor together and she handed me the first box.“Open it.”Inside was a letter and what appeared to be a child’s collection of odds and ends.“Daddy,”she said,“read the letter first.”
Dear Dad,
The older I get the more I realize what an important influence you’ve been in my life. So for Father’s Day I decided to give you two memento boxes, both filled with special memories and things I keep close to my heart, things that you once gave me. In the first and larger box you will find just a few of my special reminders of you and times we shared together just we two.
1.A pair of shoestrings tied with a bow. These are reminders of the hours you spent teaching me to tie my own shoes so long ago.
2.A Band-Aid, to remind me of all the scrapes and cuts you fixed on my elbows and knees teaching me to ride my first bike.
3.A wee storybook, for all the special made-up bedtime stories you read to us all at night.
4.A pack of a child’s learning flash cards, a symbol of your teaching me and helping me through my years of school even when I thought I knew it all.