Happy Father's Day: A Story

Photo: The Sun

I started first grade late, missing a quarter of the school year. Mom had taken me with her on a visit to Germany and wasn't as punctuational as she should've been in returning to the USA. Dad was not happy. He registered me in absentia, so I could begin school as soon as I came home.

One of the first things I noticed in attending classes was this ... students who did well received gold and silver stars on their perfect and near perfect classwork, which hung prominently in Mrs. George's classroom. But since I entered school 2 months after everybody else, I played catch up for much of the year, rarely getting those metallic stars on my papers.

Although lagging behind for months, I managed to catch up enough by year's end to be promoted to 2nd grade. Here's how this story fits into Father's Day. I remember coveting those gold and silver stars that I seldom received on my schoolwork, but have no memory of ever complaining or talking about it. But somehow my Dad knew. 

He picked me up on the last day of first grade. The next day began 3 months of summer vacation. When we got home, Dad handed me a surprise: 2 little boxes, the 1st box containing 50 gold stars, and the 2nd box having 50 silver stars, exactly like the ones I spend the year seeing attached to the perfect and near perfect papers belonging to the "smart" kids at school.

All summer long I drew pictures, colored pages in coloring books and wrote words on writing paper; and when finished, I delighted in affixing gold and silver stars all over my own papers!😊 Despite having to take matters into my own hands, it was very rewarding. 

Now how did my Dad know to get me those stars? Lucky me, he was the smart one.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Father's Day to all Fathers ... and thanks!

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A Father's Day Memory
Celebrating Father's Day
Father's Day ... With Daughters
About Dad (And Mom) On Father's Day