By Paul Harvey
We tried so hard to make things better for our kids
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 meatloaf 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 a
baby calf 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. 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,
hope you let him.
When you want to see a Disney movie and your little
brother 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 it 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
s o 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, 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 you
hand on stove and stick your tongue on a frozen
flagpole.
I hope you get sick when someone blows cigar smoke in
your face.
I don't care if you try beer once, but I hope you
don't like it.
And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you
realize he is not your friend.
I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your
grandpa 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 neighbor's window and that she hugs
you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her
a plaster of Paris mold of your hand.
These things I wish for you - tough times and
disappointment, hard work and happiness.
Written with a pen.
Sealed with a kiss.
If you are my friend, please answer this:
Are we friends Or are we not?
You told me once But I forgot.
So tell me now And tell me true.
So I can say.......
"I'm here for you."
Of all the friends I've ever met,
You're the one I won't forget.
And if I die Before you do,
I'll go to heaven
And wait for you.
Send this to all of your friends that mean the most to
you and who ever sent it to you to show you are a good
friend!..
"We secure our friends not by accepting favors but
by doing them." - Thucydides