Letters from a child's heart
Last night I was sitting in my La-z-boy chair being, well, lazy, when I saw a small hand reach past the top of the stairs. Since it was after 9:00, I assumed we were going to have a long nite of trying to keep Josh in bed. So I did my daddy thing and sneeked up the stairs just it time to see Josh jump back into bed. Ready to bring the daddy-smack-down on him, I started toward his room when I noticed a piece of paper on the floor. In the past when he has left papers like this, they have been things like "I want a snack" or "I'm sorry I was sneeking candy into bed." When I picked up the note and started to read it, I almost started to cry. Here's what it said:
Dear Dad,
Thanks for the rope book.
I'm looking forward to learning
them. I have been learning the
square knot and more.
Today I tied my friend
to a tree with a square knot.
A lot or people came
to see him. I bet you are
worried about him being
tied to a tree, but he broke
the knot and got free.
Someday I'm going to
know all the knots in the world.
But that's in a long time.
Thank you for teaching
me how to play the flute. When
I'm older I will play the
flute in a band.
Bye!
I had to read it a couple of times before I realized this was what was really on his heart. I think we can learn a lot from our kids when we take the time to really listen to them. A lot of times we are quick to dicipline them and miss these opportunities. I know in our house, there is alway the assumption that they are doing something wrong, so that's what we look for. In this case, if I had not stopped to read the note, I would have missed something special.
When we retired for the night, we found another note at the top of the stairs, and once again, I had to smile. Even though he was out of bed when he was supposed to be asleep, he was reaching out to us as only a child can.
Dear Mom,
Thanks for all the nice things
you did. I you weren't born,
you would not get this letter.
One of the nice things you
did was help me on my home-
work.
Thank you for finding a
nice dad.
I hope you have
a good night sleep. Bye.
