THESE THINGS I WISH FOR EACH OF YOU by Paul Harvey
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that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better. I'd really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would. |
My cherished grandson, I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated. I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen. I hope you have a job by then. |
It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep. I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in. I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother or sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him. When you want to see a Disney movie and your little sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him. |
I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely. On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope your driver doesn't have to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your mom. |
If you want a slingshot, I hope your dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one, I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books. When you learn to use those newfangled computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head. |
| I hope you get razzed by your friends when you have your first crush on a girl or boy, and when you talk back to your mother, that you learn what ivory soap tastes like. |
May you skin your knee climbing a mountain burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole. I hope you get sick when someone blows cigar smoke in your face. You just might try beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you drugs, I hope you realize he is not your friend.
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I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your grandparents and go fishing with your uncle. May you feel sorrow at a funeral and the joy of holidays I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighbour's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster of Paris mould of your hand. These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. |
